


















t 



OCEAN’S WAVE; 

A SCIENTIFIOAL 


AND 


PRACTICAL SURVEY 


OF 


LIFE’S USES AND ABUSES 




ST. LCUIS: 

MISSOURI DEMOCRAT BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE, FOURTH AND PINE STS 

isoT 






t 



V 


Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1867, 

By WILLIAM BUSH, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 

District of Missouri. 




INTRODUCTION 


The author, on divers requests, has deemed it fit and in order, 
(before he presents his larger work on Psychometry to the public], 
to introduce un petit livre, being a short synopsis and brief delinea¬ 
tion of the manifold aspects which life presents, under the standard 
of various sects of ancient and modern times; their erroneous 
views, and their correct ones; the struggling of nations and indi¬ 
viduals, each maintaining to be in the right; and the display of the 
baser passions of men, and the glittering hue of true nobility; 
with such appropriate comments as he deems necessary, and such 
hints as may be a way-mark to the earnest and impartial inquirer 
for truth, which might be productive of happiness and the general 
welfare of mankind. With this he submits it to the perusal of the 
respected reader, and asks to read it carefully, and pass a candid 
judgment. 






IPOIEIM:: 


ENTITLED, 


LIFE’S ATHLETIC WRESTLING. 


I. 

Life’s germ, in yonder stream immortal, 

Was hailed alike by seer and prophet. 

The pagan, in a superstitious mood, 

In word and gestures, 

Proclaimed it on the hilltops 
And in pastures. 

The shepherd by his flock, 

The mother to lull her babe, 

Sing both in vivid strains of life’s immortal gems. 
The artist’s pencil-marks ‘ ‘ talk loud ’ ’ 

Of budding, blustering, bubbling life. 


ii. 

Life! all pervading, all prevailing cause— 
Gift of the Omniscient, and of divinest cause. 
Gift alike to pebble, fish, and the heaving sea; 
Alike to shrub, to insect, beast, 

And up from brutes to men. 

Men! last product of the ever 
Pound revolving cause; 

Creature! 

Made by progressive cycle laws— 

Ever praying, yearning, hoping, weeping, 
Hating, loving—according to eternal laws. 



G 


hi. 

God! all-creating and everlasting cause, 

For wliat, and why 
Didst thou create man— 

The Unite man, 

Enwrapt with such mysterious awe ? 

Why the great canopy 

Of the myriads of heaven 

Is so grand—sublime Thy dazzling throne ? 

Ah! I see Thee wink through nature’s law, 

Thy footprint marked on the sand of yore. 

Thy beacon light 

Shines afar on gorgeous mountain tops, 

Inscribed in flaming letters on Thy chariot’s wheel; 

As Thou rid’st on the thunder storm, 

Or in the rainbow’s golden hue, 

All nature talks, as with a tongue of fire. 

IV. 

The child breathes its first breath of life, 

And its mother fondly shouts, My child! 

O, mother true! thy child 
Created, and creative cause, 

For some purpose, and for some grander calls, 

Be wise, good, and true, to this thy tender fruit; 

Then joy, ‘ ‘ and not woe, ’ ’ is thine. 

The tree will grow, and spread its branches wide, 

In storm, or in sunshine, it Will be the traveler’s guide, 
And finally sink, majestic, like the sun at night. 


v. 

Love! divinest gift to mortal man, 

Love, so perverted, and so accused of crime— 

Ah! I say crime; 

But there is no such thing in love’s purest diadem. 
Love’s wings, more swift than poets, or electric fire, 
Soars to its counterpart on many a wire. 

Love, conqueror of the warrior, 

And his shield on the battle field; 

No distance too remote, or clime too far, or nigh, 
No palace too great, or hut too small, 

Where thou dost dwell with men. 


7 


VI. 

Childhood has pleasures with all 
Its joys, and all its cares. 

Disappointment, lost hopes, have left a scar: 

So manhood did not float gently by; 

It had its twists, its cranks, and passions rare, 

Its loves and hates, its ups and downs. 

Now stalks along old lioaiy age, 

With many rheumatic aches and pains; 

Fond memory clings to past joys and sorrows, 

While weary the pilgrim goes down by the willows. 

VII. 

Such is life, in its everlasting rotation: 

It has its joys, sorrows, its hopes, and its fears. 

Man, as the highest order of eternal progression, 

Sees here but the dawning of a brighter day; 
Therefore, thou youth, and thou hoary man of age, 
Be not dismayed in life’s mysterious wrestling; 

Dive deep in the ravines of ignorance and blindness; 

Stretch forth the God-given mind, to discover 

The gems and pearls in the soul’s hidden chamber— 

Which will be in your crown 

After yon have crossed the unknown river. 




* 


OCEAN’S WAVE. 


CHAPTER I. 
life’s aspect. 

It is not my province, nor my purpose, at this stage, to 
comment at largo on the various aspects of life. Suffice it 
at present to divide it into animal, vegetable, and mineral— 
the three great branches in the immediate sphere of our 
observation, and with which our senses come the most 
‘frequent in contact. However, I deem it only necessary 
to take a cursory view of mineral and vegetable life, con¬ 
fining my remarks more largely to life as manifested in 
action. 

The reader, I presume, is acquainted with the fact that 
there is life even in the cold, damp, inert, and apparently 
lifeless mineral matter. This we notice of the various 
creation of the fossiliferous rocks, the conglomerate coal 
beds, mica, slate, quartz, hornblends, and the different 
forms of granite. In all this life is manifested, although 
only to a slight degree. Its life is latent, and hidden to 
the casual observer; yet, notwithstanding, it is there. 
When we speak of life, and of its quintessence, where it 
originated, where to find it, how to create it, and how to 
define and analyze it, these are grave questions, on which 
philosophers and men in general differ. The more reason¬ 
able hypothesis, however, is that life is the result of electric 
and magnetic forces. I speak now of mineral, vegetable, 

and animal life, and particularly that of man. I defer, 
1 * 



10 


at present, any comments. It is presumed, and very 
rationally demonstrated by geologists, that our earth was 
at one time a liquid ball of fire; that water, so termed, was 
in a vaporous condition; that in the course of time the 
outer part of the earth became cooled off, by the aqueous 
matter surrounding it, and by the action of the other 
spheres, which were already in existence; that in the 
course of time the outer part formed a solid crust; that 
this crust grew thicker, by the action of the water 
already produced. It being understood, and unnecessary 
to demonstrate that the characteristics of fire, (it would 
carry me into the field of chemistry, which is not the 
design of this work), let it be sufficient to say that fire 
is the result of chemical action—the union of oxygen 
with some other substance for which it has more affinity 
than for the body with which it had previously been 
combined, the result of which is always oxydation—that 

is, the formation of carbon; and carbonic acid being 
aquacious in its nature, and which process is always 
attended with more or less force and heat, so there is a 
reasonable supposition that the earth was once in a liquid 
condition. Another fact, namely, that the deeper you go 
in the interior of the earth towards its center heat will 
increase, goes also to demonstrate my previous prop¬ 
osition—that the earth not only was a ball of fire, but that 

it, in its interior, is still in such a condition, the sun 
having only effect to about one hundred feet below the 
surface of the earth. If we expand our minds, and go 
mentally through the various stages and periods of the 
earth’s formation, beginning at the silluvian and up to the 
alluvian age, from the red sandstone to the carboniferous, 
and thence to vegetable life, and from vegetable to animal 
life, and up in the various orders and species of animal life 
to man, as its highest type, we are not astonished that 
there is some innate power, or force (if you please) in 


11 


minerals, which may bo termed life. You see it in the 
growing of the various stratas of slates and rocks, but in 
none more sensibly than in the formation of the numerous 
coal beds. Their accretions and growth becomes almost 
tangible to the senses and understanding. So we approach 
to vegetation (more properly so called), it being only a 
stronger expression of life, not different in kind from that 
of the mineral, but only in degree. It being more palpable 
to our senses, we see it grow and decay in one great 
march of the earth around the sun. An investigator with 
a magnifying glass might almost notice, by standing at 
the side of some species of flowers and other tender 
plants, how much they grow, progress, and spring into 
existence in an hour, or in a day. Watch the budding 
flower, the budding blossoms : how quickly, like an appari¬ 
tion, they surprise us with their glorious hues in spring¬ 
time. Look how they contract or expand their feelers, 
their leaves and blossoms, according as the atmosphere is 
cold or mild. How the rosebud and lily close their portals 
when he, the majestic illuminator of the day, has turned 
his face, because the earth has completed a semi-diurnal 
march in turning around its axis, and, consequently, he 
being on the other half of our globe. 

With this I close my remarks in regard to life as it 
exists in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, and direct 
now the attention of the reader to life proper, or to that 
life which is recognized as animal, and locomotive, more 
free in its expression than the other species. 

First, we meet with life in the animal kingdom. It 
assumes there a variety of phases, although the moral 
and intellectual powers are here wanted. JSTo reasoning 
powers are developed, yet here we find life on a higher 
scale in the progressive cycle. Here life’s functions are 
displayed with more vivacity, although instinctive; yet 
the creative power of Omnipotence is shown with greater 


12 


majesty. And to complete the compass, man is placed at 
the head. He seems to have been more favored by the 
Almighty, who thought, perhaps, that man would bo moro 
trustworthy, and created him, so to say, his special agent, 
placing him, like a pilot, at the helm of nature, safely to 
guide the lower inhabitants, and all the meaner forms of 
life (I mean in comparison with him), as a pilot guides 
safely a ship amid the storms at sea. How far the Creator 
in this has been mistaken, that is, if he is liable to occasional 
mistakes —in that man has accomplished his mission; in 
that he has betrayed his trust, or faithfully performed it— 
I am not at present ready to demonstrate. It is true, we 
find hero many a picture in life’s panorama, of various 
hues : some tinted with dazzling splendor others having 
colors belonging to the melancholy and wretched side of 
life. Ah ! look at the lively bustle, stirring, and energetic 
strife of men. How they vie to outdo each other. See 
how the passions of hate, revenge, lust, and jealousy are 
manifested in the daily intercourse of men, on the streets, 
for instance, in cities. When a handsome belle (either 
imaginary on her part or handsome de facto) attires herself 
to take a promenade on the crowded city streets, or goes 
shopping, on some fine afternoon, either for the purpose to 
show her elegant features and fine chiseled face (with con¬ 
siderable powder on it), or to show her pretty foot and 
elastic step, or her new cut dress and latest Parisian bon¬ 
net, in order that some aspiring lad may admire and 
cast an ardent look at her. How, if such a belle meets 
with one who in all or any part of elegance compotes with 
her, or who has a greater number of earnest gazers at her 
side, then the feeling of jealousy is aroused, and her heart 
is filled with envy against her rival. So it is in the 
business world, where cheating and intrigue is employed 
in order to gain successful riches and wealth. In the social 
circle, as well as in public, are the vices outcropping. The 


la 


warrior, fired and agitated by politics, takes to arms, and 
becomes the wild demon of his baser passions—the tool 
of some artful politician or tyrant monarch. In the 
religious department, every artifice is used by the leaders 
of the various sects. One cries, Here is Christ, and there 
is Belial; the other says, Yonder is Heaven, and here is 
hell. A third conjures the evil geniuses from the deep. 
A fourth, Let it rain fire and brimstone. One worships 
Allah; another a tree, or a stone. Each holds the lantern, 
and says, This is the way to Heaven. One points in one 
direction, another in another direction ; and each condemns 
the other sects for believing not as he does, for not adopt¬ 
ing liis mode of salvation—for which transgression ho 
must be sent to the pool of oblivion, there to suffer amid 
the demons of the deep, in a quenchless fire. How, un¬ 
der such circumstances we have a very hard road to 
travel—sure to be assigned to some hell, by some holy 
order. What we shall do, is hard to tell. To swallow the 
superstition of the one, and adopt the dogma of the other, 
or neglect them both and follow our own intuition, is the 
so much vexed question. Enough appears to us to see 
that life is like the ocean wave: now calm, the next mo¬ 
ment a terrible storm is raging, and billows on billows roll 
with destructive fury, and tower up mountain high, in 
order that they may sink the deeper. How the wretched 
creature, bimana, called man, feels himself the most mis¬ 
erable in God’s universe; then again, he is basking in the 
sunshine of happiness. How he is the loving swain, wrapt 
in the amour of love for some citj^ belle or country damsel ; 
but after he has entered the bonds of matrimony, lifted 
the secret veil, which before had caused him so much 
trouble and anxiety, which had wrought so man}^ mys¬ 
terious pictures on his memory—now, since he has entered 
the sacred portals of matrimony, he becomes discontented ; 
he has not at all realized what he expected, and indifference 


* 


14 


is again the master spirit of his mind. The old is for¬ 
gotten; what has been enjoyed produces now a satiety. 
The actions of the mind and functions of the body become 
relaxed. Something new is wanted—new excitements, 
new gratification, new enjoyment is craved for. And such 
is and remains the usual rotation of desires in men, until 
hoary age comes along and closes the scene, after so many 
dark and lively pictures life’s aspect has presented. 






CHAPTER II. 


HAPPINESS LIFE'S AIM. 

Happiness is, and ought to be, life’s aim. We maintain 
such is and was the design and plan of the Almighty when 
He created man. Although we had no direct interview 
with Him about the subject matter now in consideration, 
nor did we sit in council with Him at the creation of man, 
yet we claim that we are part and parcel of the infinite; 
that we are not of a different species or different in kind. 
But the difference is in degree; we are finite; He infinite ; 
we are a part; he is the whole. Let me here remark, that 
the word finite and the sense it conveys to the mind is 
rather ambiguous. It is a term for want of any proper 
expression—it is relative in its meaning. Speaking lit¬ 
erally, it moans that which terminates, that which is 
confined in space. 

But in reality there seems to me no such thing as the 
finality of the mind. True, it is finite now in its expression. 
The reason that men speak about finiteness of mind is that 
we cannot comprehend all at present, that we cannot solve 
all the mysteries of nature, because there is a veil before 
our eyes yet which prevents us from tracing all nature’s 
laws to their causes. It would be better to say that it is 
ignorance which speaks of our finiteness. It is acknowl¬ 
edged and conceded by all hands, even the most religious, 
the most superstitious, that man is susceptible of suggestions 
from without as well as within; that sometimes new ideas 
present themselves to his consideration ; that he perceives 
objects outside of him; that he can calculate; that he can 
create ; that he has inventive powers able to discover new 
truths. How, that admitted, what obstacles are in the 


16 


way which prevent to explore new fields of science, new 
mysteries, which, when discovered, seem so simple that 
we are ashamed of our ignorance of not having known it 
before. Now, as the mind is progressing, new truths may 
be unraveled, new principles developed, old mysteries 
cleared up, and finally we may comprehend all causes and 
connect them with the effects; if w T e only labor, there 
must be a result. 

But in turning now to our subject again, namely, the 
happiness of man, we say that wo reason by comparison 
that such was God’s design. Nature speaks of it in all its 
elements; the beast in the field, the animal which draws 
the plow or vehicle, or the one which carries burdens, or 
furnishes us with sustenance, all have some instinctive en¬ 
joyments. The horse laughs, the dog barks, and for joy 
dances when he sees his master, or when he is set at lib¬ 
erty, freed from the heavy chains which kept him in his 
imprisonment, and allowed to roam about with another 
brother dog; the eagle, rejoicing, soars over mountain tops 
when young Aurora is dawning on the distant horizon ; the 
nightingale, in some hidden ambush, sings her morning or 
her evening prayer. The field bears, and engenders its 
various productions, the garden its vegetables, and the 
orchard its delicious fruit. And may I ask, for what ? Ah ! 
to satisfy the palate of man. The most wonderful scenery 
is presented in nature, with its gorgeous hues, hill and 
dale, the cataract, and the murmuring brook; iEtna with its 
Vesuvius, emptying the interior bowels of the earth and 
sending forth its fiery lava, which appears to the beholder 
like the destruction of Nineveh of old, related in the Bible. 
"When we are tired of the season in spring, which clothes 
nature in her bridal garments, then summer approaches, 
when the sun crosses the meridian line, and consequently 
we have all the heat we send for. Now, if we wish a 
change again, autumn rides along, heavy burdened with 


17 


many spices to tempt his palate; and after the storehouse 
and the magazine, the barn, garret, and kitchen, are filled to 
the brim, winter stalks along with his icy mantle. And it 
has its entertainment for the men and women who find 
pleasure in the tcrpsichorean art; that is, to learn how to 
set their heels and swing their partner; or the one desirous 
of knowledge, he finds the institution thrown open wide, and 
the longitude of the winter evenings give him latitude for 
study; or the pious Christian has ample time to renew the 
strength and faith in Christ, or convert others, because this 
being the season of reviving, when the faithful shepherds 
of the saint throws open wide the sacred portals of the 
sanctuary to receive the lost sheep of Israel; or some 
other part of mankind might perhaps indulge in skating 
or hunting; or some old aunt, old grandfather, or some old 
maid, might find it their peculiar delight to pick out of 
their well-stored laboratory, or draw from their fertile im¬ 
agination, some ghost-story to frighten their little band of 
children sitting around them to listen to the wonderful 
phenomena of some fairies, or some old raven sitting on 
the porch, or the rustling of silk, or rattling of chains in 
some ancient castle. All this is the usual routine of en¬ 
tertainment and pleasure of the people, according to their 
various tastes and education. Now, we say, is it not fully 
established by comparative reasoning that it is the Crea¬ 
tor’s aim to make men happy ? How much he is happy is 
another question. That depends upon himself. Tie has a 
free will to act—he is a free agent. He can shape events 
and circumstances for certain ends. Ho is the promoter 
and destroyer of his happiness. He has the means of 
choice: he can select good or evil. God placed him here 
on the amphitheater surrounded by means which, if prop¬ 
erly used, conduce to his happiness. 

Three maxims must then be evident: First, That it is 
the will and design of God’s government, and that it ought 


18 


and is to a certain extent the aim of man’s government, to 
make man happy. Secondly, That happiness consists in 
the proper use of earth’s enjoyments and products. Thirdly, 
That happiness is to be formed within and not without the 
heart. The first maxim has already been partially dis¬ 
cussed, and the part left undiscussed I shall leave the reader 
to meditate over. The second maxim comes now under 
consideration, namely: To make proper use of all that is 
productive of happiness. The abuse of it is the fountain 
of misery; excesses are the causes of diseases—diseases of 
the mind and body. If by over indulgence we violato 
nature’s law, we have to pay the penalty. See how the 
blooming youth prematurely becomes the haggard grey¬ 
beard. Ah ! that sunken eye of his indicates, speaks loud 
of, his drunken riots and night revelries. The blossoming 
young maid becomes early an elderly matron; the budding 
roses have vanished from her cheeks, and the modest blush 
of innocent virginhood has been metamorphosed in the 
melancholy picture of dejectiveness; or in the shameless 
glare of the common street walker. And what was the 
cause ? Ah! too much company, too many private or pub¬ 
lic parties, too much indulgence in dancing, too tight 
corsets, and too liberal intercourse with the other sex. 

In order to be happy, then, we must live soberly; satisfy 
natural wants in proper measures; have control over the 
passions and desires. The third and last maxim to be con¬ 
sidered is, that happiness is within and not without. 

This is self-evident, if only a little attention is given to 
the various phenomena appearing in society. If we make 
others happy, we are ourselves happy; if we are the cause 
of misery in others, we are then miserable ourselves. 
There exists a mutuality of feeling among men, (when I 
say men I mean women also;) a smile produces a smile ; a 
frown produces, a frown. Thefb is a sympathetic cord 
which connects men with the hand of fellowship, and each 


19 


passion and feeling, either pleasant or angry, has a cor¬ 
responding counterpart in the one to whom that feeling is 
addressed. If wo wish to bo loved, we must love and 
make ourselves lovable. There is a personal atmosphere 
(effluvia) around each individual which brings him en rap¬ 
port with those in whose society he enters, and consequently 
his disposition, feeling, and state of mind have an effect on 
the ones with which he comes in contact, either pleasant 
or otherwise. Man, constituted as he is, is a social crea¬ 
ture; he only feels happy when in society, excepting a few 
misanthropic and a few men of the hermitical order; but 
these are only exceptions, and there is no rule without 
exception. But generally speaking, man’s nature is social, 
so that when others feel happy he feels so; when others 
feel wretched, he feels also wretched. The dependence 
which one man sustains to another, the mutual relation 
between each other, as that of father, child, brother, sister, 
husband, wife, makes it necessary that we should feel 
happy in performing a good office for another, else the 
mother would call it a burden to nurse, clothe, care, and 
watch for her child, which is now being governed by pa¬ 
rental affection, an office of love. "Wo shall now dismiss 
the subject, and let the reader ponder over the sacred 
portals of human happiness. 




CHAPTER III. 


\ * 


CURIOSITY 

Is the topic of our present discussion. The subject now 
under consideration pertains to men, and only to men, 
unless some moon-struck poet, or some ghost-seeing clair¬ 
voyant, or perhaps some too zealous Christian, should 
contend seriously that the Almighty did manifest that 
faculty in some degree on some extraordinary occasion, 
or that the angels, Heaven's ambassadors, had that faculty 
developed for the purpose of ferreting out crime, or to spy 
out, behind some hidden ambush, by moonshine, the earnest 
and fervent pleading of some love-stricken bachelor by the 
side of some blushing maid, or to watch how Yenus is 
courted by her stately lover. Be this now as it may, I 
shall not argue it pro or con, reminding the reader again 
that there is no rule without exception. 

Curiosity is a faculty always expressed in actions; it 
commingles with society in every phase and in every 
place; it is by the king on the throne and by the scavenger 
in the street. In the social circle it plays the most impor¬ 
tant role. It is now the detective and then the common 
informer; now it preys in the family altar to raise discord 
and strife ; now it stands tip-toe under the eaves-dropping 
of a neighbor to unravel a family secret or bring to naught 
the scheme wrought by some ardent lover. It acts in 
many capacities ; in some it is the betrayer of confidence; 
in others it is the benefactor and the great discoverer of 
the age. It is a useful agent in the workshop, in the stu¬ 
dio of the artist, in the closet of the philosopher, and in 
the council chamber of the great. If properly used for 


21 


laudable purposes and good ends, it is one of the attributes 
of man, one of his faculties, saying: 

“Man, know thyself; 

All wisdom centers there; 

To none man seems ignoble, but to man.’ ’—Young. 

I shall now direct myself more particularly to its phy¬ 
sical location, and to its application in general. The sign 
of curiosity as indicated by physiognomical organs in the 
face is expressed by the open mouth, by the small, round, 
piercing and retreating eye, and most of all it is manifested 
by the nose. There it has prominence of expression. 
Look at the so-called snub-nosed or celestial-nosed indi¬ 
vidual; see how that characteristic is developed in him, 
how ho shows it by every turn and action. When I say 
snub-nosed, the short, thick, up-turned noses are the ones 
to which I have reference. But the sign of curiosity is also 
developed in the phrenological organs, or so-called bumps, 
in common parlance. A person who has a great deal of 
secretiveness, and whose organ of destructiveness is also 
largely developed, will manifest this faculty in his actions. 
If his moral, conscientious, and spiritual faculties predom¬ 
inate, then curiosity will lead him to learn and imitate 
in the good and noble; he will take an interest in the 
welfare of mankind. But if, on the other hand, the moral 
and spiritual faculties are undeveloped, and that, conse¬ 
quently, ho has very little u or none ” conscientious scruples 
in the dealings with his fellow men, then the predominance 
of his curiosity will make him one of the evils of society. 

Hitherto we have treated the subject only in reference 
to its whereabouts, and to its physical indications. But 
my remarks aro directed more especially to its application, 
its source, either as good or evil; or in other words, how 
far has it been an instrument of happiness or of misery ? 
For I conceivo that good or happiness and evil or misery 


22 


are also synonymous terms; that is, in effect they are the 
same, and logically they mean the same thing, although the 
casual observer or the fantastic grammarian might contend 
that they are different grammatical constructions, and con¬ 
sequently that there must be different meanings attached 
to them. I shall not occupy time and space to controvert 
with my antagonist. The subject of grammatical con¬ 
struction is for our present purpose too trivial to fillibustcr 
about. Sufficient that in the end, by going through the 
deductive or instructive process of reasoning, it is essen¬ 
tially the same thing. 

What has, then, been or what is the result of curiosity ? 
Surely, by using the somewhat common and vulgar expres¬ 
sion, yet expressive to the point at issue, namely : That it is 
“ to stick the nose in the hotch-pot of every family secret,” 
is true, although not agreeable to the finer tastes and 
sensibilities of the cultivated man or woman. Yet this is 
only one of its attributes. Although itself an attribute, yet 
it has various expressions, and may be classified. First, it 
has some good qualities; it is the stimulant or motive 
power, if I may use that expression, if directed in a proper 
channel, to enable man to relieve him from suffering, for 
it inquires into the relations and conditions of mankind, 
by reason that man is a social being. Now, if such a 
. man, with curiosity largely developed, and his morals are 
in a healthy action by reason of this faculty, becomes ac¬ 
quainted with the woes of his neighbor and sees his 
suffering, then his benevolence is aroused by reason of 
the filial sympathetic cord which connects him with all 
with whom he comes en rapport , or those who come within 
the spherial range of his affection. Then ho is, so to say, 
impelled to relieve the sufferings of his fellow men. Ah ! 
in such an attitude it performs a good office ; but not only 
that, it is the locomotive engine to learning and discovery. 
It give? tact to the researches of scientifical matters. 


23 


What would be the stimulus else, if it was not curiosity to . 
know, to see, and to discover? Do you think there would 
be any other interest for the astronomer to gaze through 
his telescope, to watch the movements of the distant 
planets ? Why should he sit through the long and weary 
night, lonely and alone, to espy a new star or sun, or to 
detect some new movements of the planets in their orbits, 
if it was not curiosity to know ? Ah! look through the 
window of a garret in a college, academy, or other place of 
learning, and what do you see ? The student, the unfold¬ 
ing genius; by the dim of midnight, when the clock 
strikes twelve, the hour allotted to ghosts and goblins, he 
is still turning over the leaves of the musty books, by the 
glare of his midnight lamp,, untired and with a thirst for 
knowledge un satiating—1 should rather say, a curiosity to 
know. 

These are some parts of the domain of curiosity. What 
would be amativeness or conjugality ? Ah ! a mere shell, 
without the quintessence or marrow. The sweetness and 
honey of matrimony would have lost its attraction. But 
pure as it is, curiosity, prompted by passion, and passion 
itself stimulated and excited by curiosity to know, be¬ 
comes a sweet sensation, an object worthy of pursuit, and 
an active agent in the stir of society. That is part of the 
good derived from it, but there are also other considera¬ 
tions : It is useful to detect crime, and to protect the 
innocent; it goes v T ith the policeman in the lurking places, 
to watch the criminal. I would not give a penny for a 
policeman who has not this faculty prominently devel¬ 
oped. It aids the lawyer, in discovering the falsehood 
of a witness on the stand ; and the judge, in deciding a case 
according to its merits. With this I shall dismiss the 
subject for future consideration. 


CHAPTER IV. 


RELIGION. 

Tiio topic for our present discussion is one of a delicate 
nature. To analyze the word "religion,” in a grammatical 
sense, we find it is derivative; that it consists of the 
main word u ligo,” (derived from the Latin), meaning “ a 
bandage, by which to bind; ” and the prefix “ re ” meaning 
"again.” It is an abstract noun, expressing quality when 
used in connection with and as an attribute of man. The 
word conveys the idea then, " to rebind; ” that is, " to bind 
again.” This necessarily draws the inference that in some 
time past we have been bound or connected with some¬ 
thing. The word itself does not say with what; but in its 
usual application and appellation is used only in reference 
to Deity—first, that we have been bound to Deity; and 
second, the logical inference that the bandage, chain, or tie 
has been loosened and broken; that the connecting link of 
man with his Creator has been dissolved. Who was the 
cause of such dissolution—whether men, in their pride and 
vanity, rebelled against Jehovah, and claimed to be freemen 
with no further obligations to perform, no longer to serve 
the Master, or whether God, becoming tired of man from 
the constant watching, on His part, to prevent him from 
leaping tho great precipice of ignorance, and plunging 
himself into the abyss of knowledge—the word “ religion ” 
does not inform the anxious traveler on the road to salva¬ 
tion. 

Religion, then, proposes to bind man again to God, to 
bring him in communion with his Maker. Proceeding 
from the hypothesis that he was once bound to Him, once 
in communion with Him, and secondly, that tho tio has 


25 


been broken, that the communion once existing has been 
dissolved, these are grave questions, which tax the caliber 
of the mind—although it is not unusual to be freely dis¬ 
cussed by men of shallow minds, either in the pulpit, or in 
the workshop, or ginshop, or in any other shop; for it is 
not true that the pulpit has only men of great mental 
caliber, and the workshop of the mechanic contains men 
only of shallow minds. Sometimes the reverse is true, and 
the two representatives of these classes ought to change 
places. The preacher ought to go to the workshop, and 
perform menial services, and he would there be at home; 
and the mechanic ought to let his light shine on the hill¬ 
tops, and not be hid under a bushel. Often he is the man 
of original genius and mental greatness, and ought to be a 
teacher of mankind. I say, then, the question is grave, 
although lullabyed by every mental bab. It pertains to 
the immortal, the invisible ;' to the A and the O—that is, 
to the first and the last. It pertains to God and man, to 
cause and etfect. Keligion is necessary, indispensable—at 
least, as long as man is endowed Avitli a finite mind; at 
least as long as his knowledge is confined Avithin narroAv 
boundaries; and there is every indication that his condi¬ 
tion, as it is at present, Avill so remain for a good Avhile to 
come—that is, by reasoning, by comparison—taking the 
past as the standard measure for the future. Man sees and 
feels his dependence on some unseen poAver. lie recog¬ 
nizes his little knoAvledge of the present or the future; his 
ignorance of the many phenomena in nature—nature’s 
mysterious AA T orking. He sees that he has to leaA r e here; 
that his body is subject to decay. He sees the mighty 
storm, the lightning’s fury, and hears the thunder’s roar. 
He feels that there is some poAver beyond, mightier than 
himself; and aAve-struck, he stands, and boAvs his head and 
knee to the mighty unknoAvn cause personified into a God. 
He sinks doAvn and worships Him. It is the tribute paid 
•2 


2G 


by inferiority to superiority, the tribute paid by weakness 
to power, by ignorance to knowledge; because the igno¬ 
rant is unconscious of the motive, creative power behind 
the mystic veil, and he sees the grandeur of its display, 
which causes in him to rise a similar corresponding feeling 
of the grand, the sublime. Enough is said now to make it 
tolerably plain that the religious feelings do exist, and it 
is proper and has been in order, and still remains in order, 
that they should exist. The simple question here to be 
discussed is, in what manner should it have expression, 
what kind of a religion ought we to have ? This carries us 
necessarily back to epochs and centuries gone by. What 
was the belief of the ancient sages, what of our forefathers ? 
If we read the Bible carefully, and examine it closely, we 
find that it is a truthful record of the past, of the history 
and progress of nature ; the history and doings of the peo¬ 
ple of the successive ages ; but it more particularly trans¬ 
mits to us a faithful copy of the religious belief of the past, 
and of the relation which they sustained to God. We find 
many superstitious traits of mankind as it lived thousands 
of years gone by, many a folly and error committed by 
them, all of which the Bible truly records. But we see, 
also, nobleness of character, greatness of mind, displayed 
among the nations of the past. They had their ideas, and 
worshiped them; but in general, taking the Old Testa¬ 
ment as a whole, it conveys the irrepressible idea of 
one divinity, one God. Although they personified, incar¬ 
nated Him, brought sacrifices to Him, burnt-offerings, yet 
it was a symbolical tribute to God, a recognition of divine 
causation. But as we approach the new epoch, the new 
covenant—I mean the beginning of the Hew Testament, 
the birth of Christ—this is the era when a great revolu¬ 
tion took place, when reforms were the order of the day; a 
new doctrine was taught, a new religion promulgated, new 
ideas effused concerning divine revelation. The gods, so 


27 


/ 


to speak, had come down to men, ate and drank with them. 
Surely this was a step upward in the progressive cycle of 
the ever-itself-repeating march of mankind. God became 
now a trinity, constituting a Father, and also a Son—for I 
can not conceive a father without a son, or a seed without a 
tree from which it originated—and thirdly, a Holy Ghost, 
these being the three component parts of the Godhead. 

But the great doctrine inculcated was, that God is a spirit, 
and that those who worship him must do it in spirit and in 
truth. The sect just sprung up to its existence met oppo¬ 
sition from infidels and idiots; it had to suffer persecution, 
its head and great reformer had to pay the penalty of sin 
and ignorance by sacrificing his life. Ages rolled on; 
nations came and went, great republics sprang into exist¬ 
ence, achieved glory, and then decayed again. People’s 
faith in Divinity was shaken. The sect called after their 
Great Master had to go through tribulations and trials ; 
their doctrines became rusty and falsified. False prophets 
did rise, until the true feeling of divinity became sullen 
and stigmatized, till all was dark again on the mental, 
moral, and religious horizon. 

Then awakened again a great reformer in the person of 
Luther, who challenged infidelity and, hero-like, gave the 
death-blow to the then existing superstition; who entered 
the arena of conflicting religious ideas, armored with the 
harness of a great mind. The moral horizon became 
brighter again. The slumbering powers of the minds of 
the masses received new fire and new activity again. But 
since that, centuries have again rolled on. The car of 
progress has slackened its speed; the people have not ad¬ 
vanced with such rapid strides as was expected, and as 
they ought to have done. They still look through a dim 
and colored glass, concerning the future and their religion. 
There are still too many sects, too many methods of sal¬ 
vation, too many divers ways to Heaven, There is yet too 


28 


much - brimstone and sulphur in hell to punish everlastingly 
the wicked; Heaven is yet too high and distant to admit 
the poor. The rich have a heaven here on earth, and by 
foreordination, “ according to the dogma of the religious 
sects,” he has already secured for himself and family a seat 
far up in Heaven, not somewhere near the door or at the 
lower end of the table, but high up. The poor sits in hell 
here all day and a life long, but he is not destined for Heav¬ 
en, as is the rich. He may come there, perchance, or by 
some great sacrifice on his part, as an equivalent or con¬ 
sideration for future heavenly enjoyment, and then even, 
will be shown to him a place at the door or at the lower end 
of the table. I say, then, in order to improve something 
on the subject matter of religion, let Heaven come a little 
nearer, and let hell be placed a greater distance from us ; 
have a little more of the working religion and not so much 
of a theoretical religion ; not so much faith, and a little 
more work for Christ himself—and His apostles say that 
faith without works is dead and as sounding brass. 

Let there be more real sympathy, more benevolence 
towards the poor by the rich, and by the learned towards 
the ignorant; cultivate the mind and the intellectual powers 
more, so that reason may go with faith, hand in hand. 
Then, I am sure, our religion will be purer and acccomplish 
more perfectly its assigned mission. 




CHAP TEE V. 


SPIRITUALITY. 

Spiritualism and Spiritualists have for the last quarter ot 
a century played a main role on the stage of human action. 
There has been a great deal of talk about them, and as a 
matter of course, they had a great deal to say themselves, 
as they had a right to do. The minister and the layman 
discussed the matter, when the former generally got the 
worst, and came out at the small end. The philosopher in 
his studio, almost incarcerated, as if he owed a grudge to 
mankind, pondering in the dim of night over metaphysical 
matters, has weighed, studied over, and philosophized over 
it. And the man of business, with the mechanic and 
laborer, have, when they had a leisure hour, discussed the 
matter. The day of Pentecost now has come. Spirits, 
vulgarly called ghosts, are now floating above and around 
us in the atmospherical and ethereal regions. Spiritualism, 
insignificant in its birth and beginning, has become a for¬ 
midable body, with an array of mental warriors on the 
field of battle. First it made its appearance by mysterious 
raps in Massachusetts, at the earnest request of bold pio¬ 
neers in the moral stopple field of religion. Ah! this 
is the beginning of a new era in the revolution of mind 
and matter. The car of progress has received supply, and 
it has renewed its speed. The gentle raps were the touching 
stones which caused the inquisitive mind, the earnest seeker 
of the truth, to inquire what road to take for eternal sal¬ 
vation. There was a volume of expression, a vocabulary 
full of ideas, embodied in these simple raps. 


30 


But there was something more expressive for us in store. 
The spirits desired to have more close communion with the 
doubting man, to be more tangible to his senses; therefore, 
he not only rapped, but moved also the table, played the 
piano, or any other musical instrument. The mediums 
through which he communicated became more spiritual, 
let go of some of their animal avoirdupois, and became, 
consequently, more adapted to spirits and a more fit chan¬ 
nel for communications. And lo! After the spirit had 
fitted himself a fit workshop, a clean house to dwell in, (I 
mean in the shape of a medium,) the old prophets of yore 
came back, visited this sphere again, which they had left 
epochs ago to world’s unknown. That is, they returned 
spiritually, not physically. I mean thereby the same prin¬ 
ciple manifested through the prophets of ancient time, 
repeated itself. Our modern mediums prophesied, healed 
the sick, gave food to the soul, and demonstrated the im¬ 
mortality of man. I say they did so; they do so now, and 
will do so in future ages if they only prepare the temple, 
their body, a fit place of abode for the spirit’s action; if 
they only elevate their minds to the grand and sublime. 
Then we will have, as in times of yore, so to say, the 
feeling of incarnated Gods. That is, they will speak 
audibly, so that we may hear with our ears—and they will 
have flesh and blood, and so be tangible to our senses. Why 
should we not work for such an enterprise ? The lame 
walk, the sick are cured, the dead rise, and to the poor the 
Gospel in its purity, and untarnished, is preached. Is there 
not a glorious future before us ? Why be disheartened, 
dissatisfied, melancholy, and dejected? Immortality rises 
like the morning star in the dim twilight of the distant 
horizon before us. The mother can now communicate 
with her departed child, the brother with his sister, hus¬ 
band with his wife, and vice versa . The sympathetic cord 


31 


is stretched forth from the angel world to the children of 
earth. Now there is no more weeping by the true Chris¬ 
tian when some near relative or some bosom friend leaves 
this stage of action, but rejoicing takes its place, for they 
will wander together in the brilliant light of spirits. 

All men or women may become mediums if they wish; 
mediumistic characteristics are more or less embodied in 
all mankind—it depends only on the particular culture to 
bring it out. Animal appetite or passion are antagonistic 
to the manifestations of spirits through such a channel. 
If the mediumistic channel is muddy or obscure, the com¬ 
munications must be accordingly. 

Spiritualists are in the main common-sense men. When 
I say common-sense men, I mean nothing degrading, but 
rather the other way—something elevating, for it is not the 
happy lot of the majority of mankind to have common 
sense. They treat religion in a practical way, give proper 
care to their children, train them in a natural way, cultivate 
the reasoning power of the child, give it physical exercise 
and enjoyments. And so the child rises to become a man 
—a man in the proper meaning of the word, for mental and 
physical imbeciles are more plentiful than men and women 
of sound mind and body. 

Spiritualism has hardly yet commenced. Its birth-day 
has been so recent that it has not yet laid aside its swad¬ 
dling clothes. But it has already worked miracles by the 
thousand. Its name is legion. Daily are recorded new 
facts in the book of progress. The race is a glorious one ; 
but it has its struggles and its defeats. There is found 
occasionally a wolf among the flock, but not so many 
wolves as in the ranks of the various religious sects—for 
there, u their name is legion,” without counting one too 
much. There is a great deal of bitter feeling manifested 
on the part of the various denominations of Christianity 


32 


against the so-called Spiritualists. Now, this ought not to 
be, for it retards the car of progress. If the Christian 
brother is really in earnest for the salvation of his soul and 
the souls of his fellow men, he should not throw stones at 
his brother who unwittingly, in the struggle for more light, 
steps on his sectarian toes. lie ought not always to mag¬ 
nify mole hills into mountains; not always see the splint 
in his neighbor’s eye, without noticing the beam in his own 
eye. But it is not so much the lay church member who is 
the fault-finder as it is the clergy—God’s chosen minister, 
immaculate and foreordained to his holy mission—who 
stands with the trumpet on the watch-tower, to preach 
peace to mankind (I should rather say discord) and benev¬ 
olence to their fellow creatures, but they rather inculcate 
in their doctrines malevolence against those who do not 
belong to the chosen saints. I say, then, do away with 
these crude imperfections; let not petty feelings run ram¬ 
pant with you; do not squabble always over trivial matters 
while the golden harvest passes by. 

Be not so denunciatory against young, energetic, well- 
meaning Spiritualism, but rather go hand in hand with it to 
set new diamonds, new gems, in the starry crown; on the 
mental horizon to discover new truths; and to provide for 
the soul’s eternal welfare. If such a method is adopted, I 
am sure Spiritualism will extend the right hand of fellow¬ 
ship, and perform its part in the great drama of life. 


CHAPTER YI. 


PHRENOLOGY. 

The subject of phrenology is now the topic under consid¬ 
eration. It belongs to the modern discoveries and new 
sciences. It has entered the arena of intellectual obscurities 
and squabbles, and has fought a good fight, and has kept its 
faith. It has promulgated itself by its journals, its books, 
and its missionaries, so that it has acquired a formidable 
aspect. It has gained pre-eminence among its contempo¬ 
raries and rival sciences. The minds of the people have 
already become imbued with its importance and practica¬ 
bility ; and, in point of fact, it is an important science, and 
it is an imperative necessity that men and women should 
understand it. 

“Man, know thyself ; 

All wisdom centers there; 

To none man seems ignoble but to man’ ’—Young— 

Is a very salutary and forcible injunction, a precept whose 
behest men should render homage and obedience to. 
Phrenology embraces in its scope a large field of operation. 
It is directed in general to animal life, and is divided into 
two main branches of the same class. The first branch con¬ 
fines itself to life and its constituent of the u animal pro¬ 
per.” The second branch is dedicated to "men proper.” 

Phrenology, as a science, has a wide domain. In general, 
it includes physiognomy and physiology, with which it is 
inseparably embodied, and which two last named sciences 
are its tributaries, or, so to speak, its satellites in the starry 
2 * 


34 


heaven of science. Although intimately connected with 
these two other branches, it treats particularly on the 
brains, or the head, comprising and including the brains ; 
“ that is, if the man has any at all,” for there is a large pro¬ 
portion of mankind (if you notice their actions) of whom 
you might arrive at the conclusion, almost intuitively, that 
they have none. The head is, as the word itself would in¬ 
dicate, the extreme portion of the physical body. In an 
erect position of the body it points upward to Heaven as tho 
crowning glory of creation. It is the seat of the govern¬ 
ment, the capital and metropolis of the invividual universe 
of man. It is the motive power to action; like the gal¬ 
vanic battery or electric wire, it sends its messages to the 
inferior, menial, and executive members of the body. The 
body is the channel and medium through which it manifests 
its action. 

It must be conceded that the brains are the center of 
action, I should rather say where actions originate. This 
basis assumed—and I think there can be no controversy on 
this ground—we arrive at once at the point, namely: How 
does tho mind operate through the brain ? All the avenues 
of sensation center in the brain; as soon as an object is per¬ 
ceived by external senses, it is telegraphed to the brain. 
An object coming within range of the sight of the eye is 
carried to the sensorium. Look how perfect the eye is 
constructed! For the reader who has no knowledge on the 
subject, let him compare and examine the optic glass. He 
will then perceive the general construction of the eye. 
There is a similarity between the eye and the instrument, 
only that the former is more perfectly constructed. The 
eye is nearly globular, having four coats, namely: the scle¬ 
rotic, the cornea, the charoid, aad the retina. It contains 
two fluids called the aqueous and the vitreous humors. The 
sclerotic is tho outer coat, known as the white of the eye • 


35 


it is joined to the cornea, which is the transparent mem¬ 
brane in front of the eye, through which we see. The char- 
oid is a thin membrane which lines the sclerotic inside. 
On the inside of this there lies the retina, which is the in¬ 
nermost coat of all, and which is an expansion of the optic 
nerve. The iris is seen through the corner, and is a thin 
membrane, and is of different color in different persons. 
Through the iris is a circular opening called the pupil, which 
expands or contracts as the light is faint or strong. The 
space between the iris and cornea is called the anterior 
chamber, and contains the aqueous humour. Behind the 
pupil and iris is the chrystaline lens, which is transparent, 
and through which the light passes from the pupil to the 
retina. Behind the lens is the vitreous humour. The object 
presented by the light to the eye is brought to a focus, or 
rather, the light of the object concentrates its beams and is 
brought to a focus, the reason being that the eye is like a 
convex lens; the image passes through the crystaline lens 
and vitreous humour, is refracted on the retina, and thence 
is carried back to the sensorium. But I shall have to aban¬ 
don further illustration on this subject, else I shall be car¬ 
ried too far into the science of optics, which is not my pres¬ 
ent purpose. 

So with hearing, where the sound through the medium of 
the auricular organs is carried to the brains; and all other 
senses are connected with the brains, from whence they pro¬ 
ceed to the different parts of the body and perform their 
functions. 

The brain is divided into two parts, each having its as¬ 
signed functions. One part, called the cerebrum, is sit¬ 
uated in the front part of the head, and its functions are 
simple and intellectual. The other part of the brain is 
called the cerebellum, and its functions are of the sensa¬ 
tional order, that is, it supplies the brain proper with vital- 


36 


ity. It is located on the spinal column, where it receives 
its nurture. The spinal marrow consists of four principal 
columns; the two anterior ones exercising voluntary emo¬ 
tions, and the posterior ones sensation. Let the nerves that 
go up from the two posterior columns be severed at their 
root, and the parts on which they are ramified will be des¬ 
titute of sensation though able to move. But sever the 
nerves that go from the anterior columns, though the 
patient feels the prick of a needle, he will be unable to 
move the limb to which the nerve goes. How, the two an¬ 
terior or master columns are in direct connection with the 
brain and the intellectual organs, and the two posterior 
ones with the cerebellum or sensational brain. Hence, 
you see that these two parts of the brain can act indepen¬ 
dent of each other; and hence the mystery is solved in ref¬ 
erence to dreaming. While we sleep the voluntary actions 
are suspended, but the, involuntary actions of the back 
brain or cerebellum are going on in their usual course. 
The pictures of the objects and events presented to the eye 
on the preceding day, or any previous time, (for I conceive 
there is no difference whether it was a day or year or years 
back). I contend there is nothing lost; when an object or 
fact has been presented to the mind it will keep the picture 
made by it, although years have passed by, faithfully in its 
silent chamber. It may, perhaps, bo not as lively in the 
first moment as an event of yesterday, but when the sur¬ 
rounding objects and circumstances are one by one recalled 
to the mind’s recollection, the event, though it may have 
happened years gono by, will be as real as the one which 
happened yesterday. I was going to remark that the ac¬ 
tions and events which had left their pictures, through the 
medium of the eye, on the brain, are there still at night, but 
the will power, the intellectual forces, are inactive. They 
are carried at random; fly to the giddiest hight, and plunge 


37 


to the deepest abyss, ad absurdum, because there is no in¬ 
tellectual force to control and regulate them; and the back 
brain is working in its usual order, furnishing the material. 

The sensorium is inactive during sleep, because the fibers 
constituting the brain called cerebrum or front brain have 
collapsed, and no blood courses through them while the sub¬ 
ject is asleep, while in the daytime they stand erect, and the 
blood can freely course through them; so wakefulness is 
produced by the latter state and sleep by the former. 

The brain is divided into two hemispheres; that is, there 
is a duality of organs which is well established even by 
common observation, which may be seen by the external 
organs, as two feet, two hands, two ears, two eyes, and also 
in the brain, for it often happens that one side of the head 
is in a diseased condition, cither by violence from without 
or from internal causes, yet the subject manifests all the 
faculties as regularly as a man who has received no such 
injury. The internal portion of the brain is fibrous, while 
the outer part is soft and gelatinous. In the whole it is a 
ganglion of nervous matter, folded up into layers, called 
convolutions; and in the proportion that these convolu¬ 
tions are deep or shallow, a corresponding amount of brain 
is found in the individual; and this also determines the 
greatness or smallness of intellect. 

Phrenology reasons by comparison; it speaks from ob¬ 
servation ; the various organs indicated by the phrenolog¬ 
ical table of phrenologists (vulgarly called bumps) are more 
or less conspicuous protuberances; of course, not a foot in 
diameter, as some half idiot, or monomaniac, “who cannot 
discern any smaller measure/' wants to have them, in order 
that he may pass his judgment on it. A\ r e had rather not 
have his judgment at all. But I mean to say that there 
are such modulations on the skull as indicate to the com¬ 
mon-sense men the difference. ' Phrenology speaks by ob- 


38 


servation, and I say that this is the best evidence; for what 
is true in the whole or in the majority of cases must be true 
in a single instance ) what is true in general of the race 
must be true of an individual or individuals. In different 
races the head assumes different shapes ; the heads of the 
beasts have a different structure from those of men; even 
the head has not the same shape in youth and in old age. 

In order to manifest power there must be organs cor¬ 
respondingly large, through which the functions may bo 
exercised. So with the brain; where there is a great amount 
of it the individual must have correspondingly a powerful 
mind, that is, if the brain is in a healthy condition. In the 
brain there circulates at least five times as much blood as 
in the other parts of the body: and, therefore, the great 
activity and vivacity of the mind, which is in one person 
more or less vivacious in relation to the swiftness of the 
current of blood which circulates through the brain. The 
intellectual organs are located in the front part of the head; 
the organs indicating the affections are in the rear part of 
the head, on the spinal column; the moral organs having 
reference to the spiritual, are in the top part of the head, 
while the executive organs are on the side head. You say, 
how do you know ? Ah! from observation. Look at a 
man whose basilar head is proportionably more developed 
than the upper part, w r hose head is wider between the oars 
and behind the ears, and you will have a man who will 
fight, either aggressively or in defense, accordingly as the 
other organs are developed. For instance, if such a man 
has in addition his moral organs largely developed, he will 
fight only in self defense, or for his country’s welfare. But 
if ho is a man whose moral organs are defective, he will 
constantly growl like a dog, and always bo the aggressor. 
Let his intellect be developed extraordinarily and his moral 
character only ordinarily, and then you will have the 


39 



shrewd, energetic, find sometimes sharp-dealing, business 
man; and such traits you will find developed in various 
individuals differently. And so with the other organs, 
which it is not my province here to locate, or else I should 
have to abandon my original design, namely: to give only 
a general survey on the subject. Suffice it that I put the 
matter on the track for future investigation. 

The heads of brutes you find developed only in the ba¬ 
silar region and back brain, and hence the lack of intel¬ 
lectual and spiritual powers. The animal acts merely in¬ 
stinctively ; that is, it performs no voluntary act, prompted 
and guided by the intellect, as in man. The head of the 
man, I mean the front part, is nearly at a right angle, or at 
least seventy degrees, while that of the animal is sloping 
back. And there is a difference even in the various classes 
of animals ; some have the frontal part more developed 
than others, particularly so if you go along the progressive 
lino, and come finally to the ourang-outang or gorilla. 

There is a wide distinction between the different races; 
the Caucasian race is greatly distinguished in their phreno¬ 
logical contour of tho brain from the sons of Ham, the 
frontal region being more at right angles than the frontal 
region of the sons of Ilam, as Ethiopians, Moors, and 
other tribes. Even in children these maxims hold true, 
because they show no intellectual nor moral qualities im¬ 
mediately afterbirth; their animal organs only are devel¬ 
oped ; and it is only in the course of time, when the moral, 
intellectual organs become developed, that tho child will 
manifest some reasoning power, some idea of right and 
wrong, or of a future existence. 

Phrenology does not say that men with certain “ bumps ’ 
are of such and such a character, or such and such a genius, 
but it takes into consideration the whole make up—the 
predominant faculties—and it includes quantity as w T ell as 


40 


quality, and says, <( On the whole, the man possesses such 
a character.” 

Now, it seems very important that man should under¬ 
stand his own organization in order that he may under¬ 
stand his nature, and that he may be capable of governing 
his own passions, and give such training to his children 
and himself as will develop the organs which are in a state 
of undevelop men t, and seek to restrain those excessively 
developed. If such is the case, then he will carry out the 
intention of the original authors—I mean Fowler & Wells, 
of Hew York, who were the first American writers and 
authors on the subject, and who have done a great deal for 
suffering humanity, and whose names will go down to pos¬ 
terity as great reformers—and also, he will then be true to 
his manhood and society, and diminish a great many evils, 
and suffering will be avoided ; men will pursue the voca¬ 
tions to which they are adapted, and every man will be in 
the right place, and every woman, too; and happiness will 
increase among mankind. 



CHAPTER VII. 


MARRIAGE RELATIONS. 

Tho vital interest connected with our immediate happi¬ 
ness, in our present sphere of existence, is the matrimonial 
relation. Therefore, it is a fit and appropriate subject for 
perusal. Its characteristics permeate all society; its daily 
phenomena, either of happiness or misery, is exhibited 
before our eyes. The bitter cup of persecution, discontent, 
and jealousy is drained to its very bottom by men and 
women of every class and station. And why is such the 
condition of things; why such a hurricane of passion ? 
Ah! it is because there has been a mischoice, a wrong se¬ 
lection of matrimonial partners, a match not congenial to 
each other. The reason that the fireside, “else so congrat¬ 
ulating/’ has become the scene of discord, is because the 
temperaments and tastes have not been consulted when the 
stately beau was courting the gentle belle. From two stand 
points is marriage sanctioned and enjoined on mankind : 
first, by the Bible, and secondly, by general reasoning and 
general consent. According to the narration handed down 
to us by the patriarchs of old, in the Bible, God created man 
first, and as He saw that he (meaning man) could not get 
along very well alone, that by mistake or design the newly 
created man had social feelings and felt melancholy alone, 
He (God) bethought himself and severed a rib from man 
out of which He made a woman. I have not sufficient 
light on the subject how the process by which woman was 
created was performed, neither can I state whether a man 


42 


has a rib more or less than a woman. Be this as it may, 
it is sufficient that woman was created, and for the original 
purpose of being man’s companion, on whose gentle breast 
he might repose his weary head. The further general pre¬ 
cept was given by the Creator in the following language : 
“Be fruitful; increase, multiply and replenish the earth.” 
Under these auspices we find man and woman at the crea¬ 
tion. 

If we now call the powers of memory into operation, that 
is, if the historical facts had ever been called to the atten¬ 
tion of the reader’s memory—else there are no facts, or at 
least no pictures of the facts, in the storehouse of mem¬ 
ory—and if wo with Aurora’s morning wing fly through the 
centuries gone by since creation, and visit the various histor¬ 
ical events which have passed, we find that most if not 
all the patriarchs obeyed the command of the Creator in that 
respect, namely : that they should have a life partner, and a 
woman by sex, as companion, for they took not only one 
but as many as they could possibly get. Under this 
state of existence Christianity was born; and its great 
reformer and its succeeding advocates rehearsed the old 
injunction, namely: that woman should be the man’s com¬ 
panion, with this qualification, however, that each man 
should have only one woman as companion, to whom he 
was to be joined in the holy bonds of matrimony, and the 
various religious rites and ceremonies are designed to give 
it sanctity; and the woman was enjoined to be obedient 
to her husband as the head of the family, and also as the 
lord of creation. 

Thus far we have only considered marriage as sanctioned 
by religion, and by the Creator’s command, who expressly 
created and joined them for mutual purposes. But not 
only this; it seems that reason and common sense demand 
that there should be such a relation in existence. Man, as 


43 


he here exists, needs help and aid, and has many wants 
which can only be supplied by woman. And, therefore, 
back from immemorial usage, by all nations at all times, 
the marriage relation has been received by common con¬ 
sent. 

But the question now is, how to remove the encroach¬ 
ing evil of unhappiness which exists this day among the 
married folks, and to give such hints as will be of prac¬ 
tical use to those who will sooner or later embark on the 
perilous sea of matrimony—for I take it for granted that 
every young man or woman is busily engaged in the 
endeavor to find their other half. I am not speaking (of 
course not) of the old bachelors and old maids. They 
are useless household articles, and are to be put on the 
shelf, only to be taken down in order to have a little 
sport with them for the company’s entertainment, or they 
may be sent on some love errands for some loving couple, 
where they must keep quiet, and hardly dare shed a tear 
in considering their hopeless condition. The happiness of 
husband and wife, then, depends upon whether they are 
properly suited to each other. First of all, I must remark 
that the head should guide the heart in the selection of a 
wife or a husband. If this was adopted as a maxim, the 
present wretchedness and family quarrels would be avoided. 
Secondly, I would suggest that the temperament of the res¬ 
pective parties who propose marriage should bo considered. 
There are three general divisions of temperament: first, the 
sanquine temperament; second, the motive temperament; 
and third, the mental temperament. These termperaments 
may interlap into each other, and a conglomerate mass is 
formed, in which either the one or the other combines to 
make up the predominant temper of the individual. 

How, I maintain—and by critical and philosophical 
reasoning and unbiased observation it seems I am sus- 


44 


tained—that parties having the same temperament should 
not intermarry; neither should do so near blood relations, 
for the following reasons, namely : first, suppose a gentle¬ 
man of the sanguine or vital temperament proffers his hand 
and heart to a lady of the same temperament. I venture 
to say there will, at least, be no happy marriage, if not a 
miserable one. And why this result? First, allow me to 
state what I mean by the sanguine or vital temperament. 
I understand that in those persons having this tempera¬ 
ment, vitality is predominant, and the mental and motive 
powers of those persons are more or less subordinate to 
the vital: that is to say, that such a person is too much 
animal (de facto and de jure), and lives in the flesh ; he likes 
something good to eat or drink, to take an evening ride, or to 
go to witness a comic piece in the theater, where genius is 
displayed by the heels and not by the brains; in short, to 
have his orher ease. Its physical sign is generally indicated 
by the round and full face and chest, by broad shoulders, 
short neck, and general corpulency, by rosy cheeks, and su¬ 
perabundance of blood. In characteristics, they are ardent, 
impulsive, and sometimes fickle and boisterous. How, 
suppose such persons of the temperament afore described 
are intermarried, what are the consequences ? They both 
like their ease. If the wife wants her husband to get up in 
the morning to start the fire or to go to market or do some 
other errand for her, he declines and complains of being 
horribly misused by his wife; all because ho likes his ease 
'as well as his wife. How, if he should wish her to darn 
his socks or mend his shirt or sew a button on, she becomes 
the complainant, and with a look of contempt and defiance 
she exclaims, “Wretch! how dare you!” Under such a 
state of things, it is unnecessary to say that there is dis¬ 
content ; that the cloven-footed monster has already 
entered the threshold. Their connubial intercourse has lost 


45 


all its charms and felicity; they become indifferent to each 
other often. In the hour of bereavement or any calamity, 
to which poor humanity is too often subject, they are both 
dejected and disheartened, instead of which, the one should 
lean upon and be comforted by the other under such cir¬ 
cumstances. 

So also with the other temperaments, if they are the 
same in both parties. By motive temperament I understand 
that the person who is its possessor is physically tall, in 
general has a long frame work and has strongly marked 
features, large joints, which indicate strength and intensity, 
and his complexion generally black or dark brown. By 
mental temperament I understand, where mentality is pre¬ 
dominant ; that is to say, a person whose inclination and 
taste is directed to the literary, scientific and artistic; 
its physical sign is indicated by the delicateness and fine¬ 
ness of the various constituent parts of the body; their skin 
in general is of a fine texture, the nose and mouth are finely 
chisseled like a Grecian or Boman statue, and have bright 
eyes, generally of a light or gray color, and high fore¬ 
head. 

Now, if either of these temperaments should be fouud in 
both parties there would be an incongruity. First, if 
both the parties were of the motive temperament, the 
wife would be as masculine as her husband—to use a com¬ 
mon but expressive phrase, a she would wear his breeches” 
—and so make his life intolerable, because when he would 
be excited she would be also; when he should indulge in 
some pugilistic entertainment upon or toward her person 
she would freely respond, and there would be no end of 
difficulties and trouble, and she would cease to be woman¬ 
ly, for which qualities, as meekness, softness and sympa¬ 
thy, we love and adore her. All would be lost, and she 
would sink in the pool of wretchedness. 


46 


But suppose the young married couple were both of the 
last temperament; namely: the mental; what then? I 
think this would also mar their happiness. The husband 
would be as sensitive as the wife when, perchance, they 
came in collision with something crude or distasteful in 
this rough world, and which was not congenial to their 
tastes and understanding. The wife will naturally lean on 
her husband's strong arm and look to him for support and 
protection. She loves his manliness. Now, if he is as 
effeminate as she is, why, she feels herself deceived, loses 
confidence in him. Besides this, there is not the ardent 
love in him for which she longs and languishes. And so 
again the aim and end of marriage is marred by indisposi¬ 
tion and indifference. 

But how can these evils be cured? First, let me say, be 
cautious ; select judiciously—I mean in reference to tem¬ 
perament, physical constitution and tastes, for I would not 
have it understood that you should take into consideration 
pecuniary interests or riches, for which every right-minded 
and true-hearted man or woman should not care a farthing. 
Happiness reigns in the heart, and not in the purse. 
Happiness may be in the little cottage as well as in the 
great palace, in the heart of the scavenger as well as in 
that of the king on the throne. If the two spirits so united 
are only congenial then there is a true marriage. 

Marriage is like a galvanic battery. There must be two 
poles, two elements, one negative and the other posivive. 
If these opposite elements are not in the battery, then it 
will not be complete and will not produce the usual shocks. 
So in marriage if there is not a positive and a negative 
element in the respective parties, the battery is not closed, 
the love and ardor is not genuine; it is always repelled 
when it gushes out freely by one or the other of the parties* 
There is not an effusion of feelings and mingling of affec- 


47 


tions. Select always, then, one of the opposite tempera¬ 
ment from yourself, for your life companion. If you lack 
in the ardor and impulse of love, select one who has a little 
more than ordinary; he or she can supply your deficiency* 
And here, by the way, let me direct you to find out whether 
that person has that affection strongly or weakly devel¬ 
oped—I should rather say largely or smally developed—- 
without spoiling his or her toilet. Every person carries 
his miniature along w r ith him; open, not in his pocket. 
The face, the head, the whole physique is an open book, 
where one may read if he chooses to do so—that is, if he 
knows how—“Love (or amativeness, more properly speak¬ 
ing, in the sense in which w T e now treat it,) is situated 
behind the ear in the back part of the head; it has its nur¬ 
ture, and its veins run directly from the cerebellum / 7 In 
the face it is indicated, that is, voluntary love, by largeness 
and projection of the chin proper, and also by the breadth 
and fullness of the lips. Now, if either or all of these parts 
are largely developed, such subject will be the ardent, im¬ 
pulsive, instinctive lover; or if you lack—I mean if some 
other faculty is not averagely developed in you—select one 
in whom it is largely developed, that in time of need you 
suffer no want. 

After marriage you can, as a prudent husband or wife; 
facilitate domestic happiness. Study your own nature; 
study the nature of your companion; see where he or she 
is deficient, and seek by your aid to cultivate and improve 
the weak point. Examine and weigh well your own defi¬ 
ciencies and imperfections, and seek to improve them. Be 
not always faultfinding, even when your husband should 
once in a while stay a little too long from home, or com¬ 
mit some other impropriety, according to your standard of 
moral measures. Husbands, be not always complaining 
and sighing when your wife goes, as you deem it, too fre- 


48 


quentiy shopping or wants too many new dresses,, or 
wishes to visit once in a while some place of amusement 
to have a little fun. The innocent creature, I am sure, 

must have a few innocent hobbies, after being the livelong 

_ * 

day almost imprisoned, so to say, by the fireside. Bather 
let the spirit of forgiveness control you, and life's journey 
will be bright and fair to you. 




CHAPTER Y 111. 


EDUCATION OP CHILDREN. 

Education is the all-absorbing topic of anxious parents 
and philanthropists. Education is a general term. First: 
education may be acquired by teaching in the various schools, 
colleges, academies, universities, and other institutions of 
learning. Second : it may embrace the tuition, nursing, and 
training of the child by its mother and father from its birth¬ 
day on up to manhood and womanhood. Third: education 
may be the result of observation and precept; or, it may 
receive its main source from the different conditions and cir¬ 
cumstances surrounding the individual—that is to say, all 
persons will receive their education from one or the other 
source, and will consequently form a corresponding charac¬ 
ter. But the question occurs now to our mental sight, what 
education we ought to give and receive in order to promote 
the well-being of our posterity. When such a motto is in¬ 
scribed on our banner as that, we are assured of the well-being 
of posterity. Then, as a matter of course, we have to throw 
aside the narrow, crippled, and dogmatical views on the 
subject of education which we may have hitherto enter¬ 
tained, and step out into the broad field of science and 
nature. We have to go to primary causes to remedy the 
evil. The reason that our system of education has been a 
pitiable failure is, that hitherto we have only sought to 
alleviate the evil by seeking to diminish the effect; we 
have sought to put a plaster on the aching and decaying 
wound, instead of eradicating the evil at the fountain head ; 


a 


50 


there has been too much whitewashing; instead of pruning 
the weed at the root, we have fostered it. You say, and 
writers assert, the free will of men, and, therefore, you 
claim that every one is the architect of his own wretched¬ 
ness or happiness. But this is not true in an absolute 
sense; it is true constructively, with certain modifications. 
First: let us consider what we mean by saying man is a 
free agent. This term is generally misconstrued by the 
people at large, and by teachers, either religious or other¬ 
wise, with an obscure mind. The general impression has 
fastened itself on the mind of the populace, that free 
agenc}" means that man, the lord of creation so called, can 
do as he pleases in all and in every respect. But this is 
not so; we are subject to nature’s laws. Why, the term 
free agency does not of itself convey the idea, neither 
would the philosopher who first laid down this great maxim 
have so understood. When I am an agent I cannot be the 
principal. There must be something of a higher nature— 
a God to whom I pay my tribute—which the word agency, 
literally construed, implies. At most, the great philosopher 
meant only to say that men had, so to speak, a general power 
to act, and not a limited one. But if we come to analyze 
his freedom, we will find it more limited than we at first 
expected. Man is surrounded by influences and circum¬ 
stances which almost compel him to do what ho else does 
not want to do. Suppose a man is nearly starving, and he 
goes and begs or steals a loaf of bread. You tell me that 
the man acted by his free will. Ah, you cannot say so, 
and prove and demonstrate it also. True it is, the man 
supposed had one alternative, and that was to die from 
starvation. But God created him—so implanted such 
desires in him that it was impossible for him to resist. 
He went to his neighbor and either begged or stole a loaf of 
bread. True, he exercised there a volition, but was that 


) 

51 

volition free ? I say, no. In the first start, he was 
prompted by nature’s wants; he also instinctively desired 
to live and not to die. Driven by these impulses, ho goes 
and does the act he otherwise would never have dreamt of, 
and which was against his desire. Query—Was he free ? 
The condition of his health gives character to his acts. 

Why, you could not find a sick man or woman who 
would wish to dance a waltz, or sing a song, or do some 
courting, that is, if ho or she had anybody to court. 
Why this ? Because the functions of the body are in a 
state of relaxation, its members diseased, and the subject 
feels melancholy and miserable. Now, ho or she cannot 
help being so, and vice versa , the healthy person feels an 
inclination to dance, to sing, to court, and be joyous, 
because ho cannot be otherwise, considering his physical 
condition. The atmosphere and condition, cold and heat, 
the seasons, and other causes stamp on the man his dispo¬ 
sition, and he has to act it out whether he will or not. 

His free agency then, after all, is very limited. He acts 
and is acted upon. The object then, of education,-is that 
he should understand nature’s causes, that ho may learn 
to control conditions and circumstances, so that he may be 
able to meet the storm and prevent the dreadful and 
destroying events; and such, it seems, it has failed to 
inculcate in its pupil’s mind hitherto. 

In order that the future generation shall be better and 
more qualified to discharge life’s functions, we must com¬ 
mence with ourselves in the social as well as the matrimonial 
circle. There is such a thing as pre-disposition. The 
child, conceived by its mother, commences from the moment 
of conception to absorb its mother’s qualities and dispo¬ 
sition. Let the mother be disposed to pilfer her husband’s 
pockets at night when he is asleep, either because he neglects 
to provide for her domestic wants or she has a natural dis- 


52 


position to do so, and sure, the child will inherit her 
qualities and become the natural thief by birthright. Let 
any other cause trouble her during the period of gestation, 
say she is disposed to drink strong drink, and she takes a 
dram of the beverage frequently to still her thirst for it, 
why, the child will inherit it and become a drunkard; or 
let her become afraid or excited during such time, her child- 
will be timid, restless, and easily excited ) and such are the 
natural consequences of natural causes. 

Education of the children, or the art of raising proper 
human specimens (speaking more plainly), begins when 
the marriage bell has ceased tolling. It is, then, of the 
utmost importance to engage all the reasoning powers, 
first, in the formation, gestation, germinating period, when 
still in the ventre sa mere. The child makes its appearance 
on this vale of tears, (as some good Christians are fond of 
saying; when his liver is in a bad condition, full of bile, and 
hysterical, or when cardialgia is causing sensation in his 
stomach—the reason being that too much poultry had 
found its way to it); then the active duties of the mother 
are called into action either by the never-dying maternal 
affections of the mother, or, when she is helpless, or can 
render no aid, then they are resting on the next guardian of 
the child. 

First, then, after the child has personified, individualized, 
itself, provide for the physical wants, then for the men¬ 
tal. What physical wants are there ? is the next query. 
In order to raise a great tree, you must first plant it in 
good soil, and afterwards you must carefully nurse it, and 
bring such nutrition to its wants as will promote its growth. 
Precisely similar must be the nurture in the case of man. 
If you wish to make a great man or woman out of your 
child—I mean intellectually great—you must first endeav¬ 
or to develop his physical system, which is the underlying 


53 


strata. If ho wishes to handle life's oar on life’s tempest¬ 
uous ocean, he must have muscle to do it. It must bo con¬ 
ceded by all men of common understanding, though they 
may have but little learning or experience, that the brain 
and the body in general is the medium through which the 
spirit acts; and if the medium is defective, so necessarily 
must the manifestations be defective. There is no material 
difference when we speak of mind and spirit; they are 
synonymous terms. There is no difference in species; they 
are both of the same class. The existing difference is only 
in degree, in the application; mind is related and closely 
allied to spirit. Mind is the immediate agent that attends 
to the practical affairs of life; it has to do with matter, 
shapes it and molds it according to its peculiar genus. 
Spirit is that part of the universal whole which seeks to 
provide for the future, the immortal. It seeks to soothe 
man’s pangs and sorrows by lifting him up to the sublime. 
It is ethereal in its nature, and pertains to the celestial. 

The child should first, then, be provided with the proper 
habiliments, according to the season and the exigencies of 
the weather; secondly, you ought to provide adequate and 
suitable diet, having reference to age, season, and exercise, 
that is to say, you should not give victuals to the child 
which press heavily on its stomach, and which are hardly 
digestible by its weak digestive organs. You should not 
feed it or let it eat so much that you can almost put your 
finger in the throat and come in contact with the food. 

Also, it is a great mistake even by adults to eat and 
overload the stomach before retiring, which is the cause of 
much sickness, and many a heavy dream and restless sleep, 
where the dreamer always imagines himself to be hurled 
down some steep precipice, or he finds himself in some 
deadly struggle with some antagonist or some fiend; all 
the glowing pictures of torments and pictures of demons 


54 


in hell are tormenting him, and well may it be so; for he 
had violated nature’s law. I say, therefore, as it has such 
a bad effect on an adult, much more ought you to watch 
the young and inexperienced. Food ought to be adapted 
also to the season; for instance, in winter, when nature is 
cold and icy, the food ought to be such as to create heat in 
the body; it ought to be such as will give nutrition to the 
blood; it must contain a great proportion of carbon in or¬ 
der to attain this object. Kow again, in summer when 
heat is prevailing in nature, when the barometer is high; 
the food ought to be light, such as fruit, and vegetables, 
which contain more fluid and less carbon. The child, when 
advancing in years, ought to have appropriate physical 
exercise; and there is a false notion prevailing among 
people that such exercise ought only to consist in romping 
and roaming about in a wild and senseless manner with a 
promiscuous crowd. I say, no; we ought to direct such 
exorcise to some useful purpose, and you will thereby ac¬ 
complish two ends at the same time : first, they and you 
will have the gratifying consciousness that something good 
has been performed; and, secondly, the child’s physique 
and health will be in a sanitary state. 

There are many hobbies in dressing according to the 
lunatic fever of the tyrant, fashion. Even gentlemen bow 
at its shrine, but more so the fair sex. In numerous cases 
is this tyrant, fashion, the cause of a premature grave and 
general debility during life. First, they are careless in 
dressing the lower part of the body and limbs; secondly, 
in order to present (according to their notion of elegance), 
an elegant form and a beautiful waist, as they say, they 
use spring corsets to press and squeeze—it would do 
a great deal more good to them if they would permit some 
forlorn bachelor to perform that part of the work, namely: 
the squeezing part. Thus, in consequence of the compres- 


55 


sion, the action of the lungs (to promote breathing and to 
introduce sufficient oxygen into the blood to give it purity 
and vitality, and to reject the accumulation of carbonic acid 
in the system), is entirely curtailed and obstructed, the 
blood is prevented from coursing freely through the ar¬ 
terial and veinous system. 

The blood is apt to accummulate in the heart by the slight¬ 
est excitement, and such person is subject to hemorrhage, 
because the blood cannot, in consequence of the compres¬ 
sion, flow freely out. Such females become irritable, the 
heart palpitates at a moment's notice, and for slight causes; 
when the mistaken lover thinks that the palpitating of his 
sweetheart's heart is the outgushing of beaming and cor¬ 
dial love and tenderness for him in his presence, while in 
truth it is only the corset which is the cause. 

Such, then, are the follies of the age indulged in b}’ the 
female sex, which ought to be remedied. And real health 
and genial love will take the place of the counterfeit one at 
present. 

Next in order we proceed to the moral and mental train¬ 
ing. First, the parent ought to set a good example. If ho 
is immoral in action and precept, how can he expect that 
his offspring will be the opposite, that is, have good 
morals? If the parent's intellect is dark as midnight, how 
can he expect that his child will be otherwise ? Man is so 
constituted that he reveres the mighty, and age. The child 
accepts the teaching of his parent without reasoning as to 
whether the} 7 are right or wrong. The reasoning power of 
the child is not yet developed until in after years of matur¬ 
ity. It is the eternal law to develop first the physical, 
then the intellectual; and such is the absolute routine. 
Now, let me demonstrate. The power of imitation is very 
largely developed in the child first, and no reasoning facul¬ 
ties. It sees its parent do a thing, whether wrong or right, 


56 


and it imitates the act, that is, it may not do the same act 
immediately, it may not have the means to do so, or the 
occasion may not present itself, but I mean to say that the 
act of the parent in presence of the child has left an im¬ 
pression on the plastic memory of the child, and it will re¬ 
peat the act when it has the means to do so and the occa¬ 
sion presents itself. The child has reverence for its parent, 
first, for the reason already explained, namely: that weak¬ 
ness has always a certain awe for power, and secondly, the 
child receives so many good offices from its parent, and, 
therefore, feels grateful, because the Creator has implanted 
in the very nature of men the feeling of gratitude, and al¬ 
though they may be dormant for many years, yet they will 
be called into action when the occasion presents itself. 
These two causes are powerful stimulants for it to imi¬ 
tate the actions of its parents, no matter whether right 
or wrong. Thirdly, the child looks up to its parent as 
the senior in age; and there is a certain propriety in 
this, namely: it must generally be presumed that the 
aged have greater experience, and have profited by the 
long and weary conflict with life and matter—at least, 
they ought to have done so. Sow far he has in point of 
fact profited by it is not my present purpose to discuss, 
suffice that in my experience—and I have had a large one, 
and have come in contact with life in all its phases—the 
number is small who have learned and profited by ex¬ 
perience. But the child takes it for granted that its parent 
has done so, and therefore accepts his acts. Another rea¬ 
son : man is by nature a habitual, circumstantial being, and 
therefore, when he is surrounded for a long time by one 
class of society and mode of teaching, if one class of condi¬ 
tion or circumstances surround him for any length of time, 
he adopts and habituates himself to those surrounding in¬ 
fluences, and feels after a while congenial among them, not- 


57 


withstanding his very nature may have at first revolted 
against and abhorred the very acts which he now does un¬ 
scrupulously. 

So with the child; by observing the long series of 
actions in long years, whether right or wrong, it adopts 
them, and they become part and parcel of its very nature. 
You must see, then, that it is of the very utmost impor¬ 
tance that your moral conduct should be without blame. 
If you wish your child not to be licentious, indulge not, in 
action, word or gesture, in licentiousness with the other 
sex in his or her presence, for, be assured, the fruit will be 
like the tree; the twig bends as the tree inclines. If you 
wish your child not to be a drunkard, do not yourself drink 
the poisoning beverage. Learn it some useful things ; seek 
to elevate its mind, rather than to spend its hours in idle, 
vicious, and nonsensical talk and play. On the whole, be 
not rigid and severe in enforcing your rule by corporeal 
punishment; exact not an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a 
tooth, or take not, as the Shakspearian Jew, “ your pound 
of flesh ” for a small debt. You can control your child far 
more with love than with rigidness; far more if you ad¬ 
dress yourself to its understanding, and seek to enlighten it. 
You forget that the little one is an entity, an individuality. 
It has all the attributes you have, although not yet perfectly 
developed. It has a will; and by your corporeal punish¬ 
ment you insult its feelings; it becomes stubborn and re¬ 
vengeful ; although it may temporarily obey your command, 
yet the old cicatrices inflicted by your cruelty are left, and 
will in due time present themselves in the form of revenge¬ 
ful passion. 

The last hint that I am about to give is, that you ought 
to educate your daughter truly womanty, and your son 
truly manly. You ought to make your daughter—for you 
can if you will—truly amiable, a fit companion for man, 


3 * 


58 


and a trusty, dutiful, and affectionate wife, and an experi¬ 
enced and practical housekeeper. Your son you ought to 
make a man in every respect. Eeligious dogmas you ought 
to refrain from impressing him with; rather cultivate the 
reason. Set good morals before him in act and deed, in your 
own dealings with men, and at home in the social circle. 
Then ho may afterwards choose what religion he pleases, 
and join or not join himself to what sect he likes, according 
to his understanding and intellectual light. Instead of 
wearing out his brain with extensive studying of mathe¬ 
matics or studying dead languages, which studies, in after 
life, become useless, rather let him pursue the study of 
nature and nature’s causes. Let him study himself, for the 
greater study of mankind is man. If you do this, you will 
make him a useful member of societv, who will be an orna- 
ment to it; and he will be an instrument to promote the 
well-being of society; and you w T ill have the gratifying 
knowledge, not only that you have created a proper speci¬ 
men of mankind, but also that you have performed your 
part well. 



CHAPTER IX. 


PROGRESS OUR MOT T O . 

Progress is the order of things; therefore, it should be 
our beau ideal held before us in the dim distance of dazzling 
glory. It ought to be inscribed upon our banner as our 
motto, and we should endeavor, at least, to keep pace with 
nature. For if there is an attempt—a step toward action— 
if we patiently keep on, although meeting with disaster, 
we will finally succeed and we will roll on with the car of 
progress ; for he is a hero who at least attempts to progress. 
The man who silently stands by and let others do the work 
while he himself stands quiet, too anxious and too stiff to 
lay a hand on himself, will retrograde instead of advance 
in the scale of well-being. He is a coward, and a worthless 
and injurious member of the human family. For every 
labor is worth its compensation, every exertion generates 
an effect. I say, then, progress is the inevitable result of 
bona fide exertion. True, some may progress more rapidly 
than others. When I speak of progress—without making 
further comment—I mean to be understood by the reader 
that I speak of the progress to be made in respect to 
all that is good and ennobling to mankind; that progress 
which tends to clear his mystic intellect, and make his mind 
large and comprehensive. For progress is a general term 
and may convey the idea, in its general sense, to progress 
in evil as well as in good. But my remarks are directed to 
progress appertaining to good. Let us look at nature and 
nature’s law in order to conceive an idea of progress. J 


60 


take it for granted that man is the product of both. Let 
us survey with the speed with which the electric rod con¬ 
veys the idea of the operator, and retrace our steps to the 
germ of creation. First, in the order of creation, comes 
the mineral kingdom; next in order, the vegetable king¬ 
dom; next in order, the animal kingdom. First, these 
animals of the lowest species—animals in their lowest 
forms, suited at that time to the state of nature and the 
order of things; then came in order a species of animals 
more perfect in form and of a higher order; next came 
man, without a Messiah, for at that time he was not wanted, 
for he became only a necessary creature of the imagination 
in after ages, after the pretended fall of man, from which 
he (man) is still lame, so terrible was his fall. I cannot 
say whether mentally or physically lame. Animal and his 
successor, man, in creation had, and have now, a common 
affinity. They both have souls. When we say soul, it is, 
that we have no other approximate term for a proper defi¬ 
nition. The soul, then, is common to man and animal. 
Then comes the intellect which man alone possesses, as 
some philosophers contend; and they say further, that 
there is a wide abyss between intellect and soul, and there¬ 
fore the gulf between man and animal can never be bridged. 
But I cannot see the force of their reasoning. I main¬ 
tain that there is a link connecting us with the animal. 
Nay, more, I venture to say that in the great progressive 
cycle of creation, each inferior order of creation is linked 
to its succeeding superior one. The acorn moldering and 
decaying in the dust, its forth-sprouting germ, and tho 
young oak tree, are all successive links—are all successively 
related to the mighty oak. Tho caterpillar, in its various 
transformations and modifications, under the influence of a 
genial spring sun, is a link in the chain of progression to 
the butterfly, notwithstanding the most varied contrast; 


61 


for look at the worm embedded in the cold ground, appar¬ 
ently lifeless, and look at him, for he is still the same thing in 
another form, as he mounts the ethereal regions and basks 
himself in sunshine with wings of brightest hue. 

The only difference between soul and intellect is in the 
terms of speech. May intellect not be the succeeding link 
of creation after the soul, and, therefore, relate to it? 
Nay, it may not only be so, but it is highly presumable that 
such is the case, as the soul does not reason, but only feels 
and acts instinctively, and so man frequently and in many 
cases acts instinctively without the process of reasoning in 
common with the animal. Soul, it is satisfactory to my 
mind, and I have perused the matter thoroughly, is then a 
lower degree of intellect, and the channel which gives shape 
and form to intellectual expression ; and this we can but im¬ 
perfectly trace in the animals; for the philosopher who says 
that it is not so has no more means of knowing and facts to 
adduce to prove it than I have. True it is, as he says, the 
animal does not reason, but this does not overthrow my 
theory. Reason is only one attribute of the mind, and it 
manifests itself in various other ways, as by intuition, by 
instantaneous impression, from outside, on our mind, which 
prompts us to act immediately, and when the mind soars 
in the moral or spiritual atmosphere, we see many demon¬ 
strations, that the higher order of animals are subject to 
culture and training, although not in the same degree as 
man is. A great obstacle in the way of training is, that 
the organs of language are defective in the animal. But 
that is not unfavorable to my advanced doctrine, but 
rather in favor of it. Language of itself is no sign of 
intellect or reason; for there are men and women who sit 
by your side and talk to you for half an hour, and when 
they got through, what really their mission had been— 
what they had been driving at, and what logical facts they 


02 


had demonstrated, I venture to say you would be compelled 
to acknowledge that you had received no more intelligence 
than when your dog Krauss had talked to you. And I am 
sure, although he could not convey his ideas, wants and 
affections to you in words, yet you would unmistakably 
have understood from his gestures what he wanted. If we 
look at the various trained and educated animals in 
menageries and amphitheaters, we must notice unmistak¬ 
able signs of the approximate relations which intellect 
proper, so called, and soul, or instinctive actions, so 
called, for want of another term, sustains to each other. 
Considering, also, the defective mode which animals have 
to express their ideas and wants to us, only in gestures and 
not in language, or, I should rather say, our defective 
mode of comprehending the language of animals. From 
mind, the next step in the ladder is to spirit, and here 
again a controversy arises. Some claim that there is no 
relation existing between them, but I claim that there is— 
that the mind is controlling the terrestrial affairs and the 
spirit proper the celestial; that the difference is only in 
degree; that mind is the media of the spirit, by which it 
communicates to men the heavenly message from immor¬ 
tals to their brethren here below, yet on a lower plain. 

The next, last, and widest chasm which comes under our 
consideration is that of the relation of spirits to God. It 
seems to me that there is uncontradictory evidence of the 
fact that there exists a mutual affinity between them; that 
the connection is inseparable; that they are constantly en 
rapjport; that there exists a mutual interchanging current 
between them; that the only difference is in degree, not in 
kind; that the relation which men, as spiritual beings, sus¬ 
tain toward the Creator, so called, is that of a part to the 
whole; that man is a part of the universe, and is a whole 
and a unit in that universe; that in man may be found the 


/ 


68 

sixty-four primates to be found in nature, and laid down in 
chemistry as existing; that man’s spirit has the same qual¬ 
ities and attributes as Jehovah, only in an inferior degree; 
that he, by means of his spirit, reasoning, and intuition can 
create and subjugate nature ; that man has and is now cre¬ 
ating new forms out of old matter; that man has learned 
to a great extent, is learning, and will learn how to create 
and apply nature’s forces for his convenience and his pur¬ 
pose ; that there is no boundary or limits to his future 
discoveries. Now, then, as the worthy reader sees, he 
and his fellow men may bring about great results, if they 
only search, investigate, and use their reasoning powers, 
although they may meet with apparent disasters (which 
are not so in reality, and which will only tend to sharpen 
his intellect, to make his perceptions more clear), and make, 
consequently, his achievement greater and more glorious. 

I say, then, again, progress ought to be our motto; it 
ought to fire tho heart of every youth with aspirations to 
discover something new; to awaken to sleeping forces of 
nature; to mold and fashion new divine images out of 
nature’s matter ; for the purpose of alleviating the suffer¬ 
ings of mankind; to ennoble the mind and desires, so that 
he may, so to speak, walk hand in hand with God, and 
speak with him face to face, as in times of yore was done 
by father Abraham and other patriarchs. 




CHAPTEK X. 


ETHIOPIANS. 

Tlie reader will pardon me for devoting a few lines to 
the so much detested creatures called Ethiopians—but the 
majority of them are merely descendants of the Ethiopian 
race proper. I mean those who are found in America, and 
particularly those of the United States. 

The reader will understand distinctly that the subject is 
hero not treated from a political or partizan stand point 
out, but this is purely a brief scientifical and common sense 
review on the subject. The native land of the negro (or, 
as he is popularly called, “ nigger,”) is Africa. He, soon 
after the discovery of this continent by Columbus, was for¬ 
cibly kidnapped u by the Europeans who had crossed the 
wide Atlantic and settled in this country/’ and packed like 
any other merchandize and imported here, and for many 
centuries considered as a personal chattel, the same as a man 
holds a horse or cow. By one part of the nation, that is, 
after the nation had been formed by the federal compact or 
declaration of independence, he was despised in a certain 
sense and for certain purposes; that is, all social rights 
were denied him ; but his labor was not so despised. The 
other part of the nation took a more liberal view of tho 
matter, and granted him certain rights and privileges. 

Such was the state of feeling existing among American 
citizens. Such was the difference of opinion and opposing 
doctrines and views on the subject matter. It arose partly 
from education, and partly from the immediate pecuniary 


v. 


65 


interest involved. But it is enough that such a feeling was 
existing, and was nurtured by the conflicting political ideas. 
The difficulty became more gigantic by unavoidable obsta¬ 
cles ; that is to say, by the mode of legislating laws provid¬ 
ing for the government of all the States, some of whom 
claimed to have not yielded their own personal sovereignty, 
and that they had consequently a right to make their own 
local laws, and to regulate their own interior affairs. 
Under such a state of things, the natural consequence was 
animosity and ill-feeling by one part of the nation, with, 
whom the negro had been for many generations, and who 
had inherited him as any other estate, and the other part of 
the nation, who did not look through the same spectacles : 
who had no interest in it, and whose minds had not been 
trained and educated in that direction, and who were also 
ignorant of the character and capacity of the negro. 

The questions of the opposing views could have been 
peacably settled if the leaders of the people had addressed 
themselves to the people’s minds; if after due and impartial 
deliberation they had adopted such measures as would have 
alleviated the evil and brought satisfaction to both parties. 
But this could not be done. Base politicians stimulated 
the passions and prejudices of the people, and they preached 
damnation on both sides, until they finally got it. The 
blood began to course with greater velocity, and the brain 
became feverish, and the rush to arms was the last frantic 
movement. The blood of many an innocent victim flowed 
freely, of which the various battle-fields can give a better 
picture than I can. Ah! many a mother’s broken heart, 
many a disconsolate widow’s sigh, tells what has become 
of their dear ones—that the cold grave near the battle¬ 
field keeps the moldering form of the beloved, who pre¬ 
maturely had to pay the penalty, and sleep with the dead. 
Ah! true it is that your brother, husband, and son, who 


66 


is now sleeping beneath the tomb, went to the battle with 
the inspiration of heroism; that he fought like a hero 
for what ho believed to be right, and that he died as a 
patriot. And such was the case, with but few exceptions, 
on both sides. But, notwithstanding this, I say he went 
there as an instrument; went there as the subject of 
pre-existing causes. He simply was the medium of exe¬ 
cution. He simply carried out the effects of his psycho¬ 
logical state, his previous opinion, impressed upon his 
mind by his political leader, who talked only war—made 
him to be the madman that he was. 

I hope that you do not believe that war is necessary, 
as I have heard some fools say, that “it was necessary 
to butcher people up (particularly in Europe), in order 
that the others may have something to eat ”—where 
thousands of miles of land lies uncultivated, and nothing 
is raised upon it. Besides, God, the Creator of men, will 
also provide for his wants. Hot only that; it is a sci- 
entifical, demonstrable fact that nature, and all that is 
on it, is a self-sustaining machine. 

It would be an insult to manhood to assert that when¬ 
ever there is a conflict of ideas among people the only 
way to settle it would be to resort to arms. I say, er¬ 
rors and mistakes can be far better, and only perfectly, 
eradicated by addressing ourselves to the reason of the 
individual, or to the reasoning minds in general—for what 
is true in one case must be true in all. 

Emancipation, which might peacefully have been ac¬ 
complished, has finally been accomplished, by the sacri¬ 
fice of hundreds of thousands of men. But whether the 
method by which the result was effectod was right or 
wrong, I shall not now censure or praise it. It is enough 
that it is there. But under what circumstances? Ah! 
under an excited state of society; under animosity and 


67 


discontent. The question now is; Has the expected good 
come, or is it yet far distant? Is the negro adapted to 
our society ? I say, no; particularly not under our pres¬ 
ent circumstances. Therefore, he ought to be sent to a 
territory apart from us, and let him there reap the result 
of his labor; let him there, by his own exertion, rise in 
the scale of civilization, for I think that to lead him, or 
force him into civilization, or lay it, like a toy, in his lap, 
that he may get it without exertion, will do him no 
good. His stomach could not digest such highly flavored 
food. 

First, the Caucasian race can never be in harmony 
with the Ethiopian, in a state of intermixture and amal¬ 
gamation. The difference in the advance in intellectual 
culture is too great in the two races. They are not phy¬ 
sically adapted to each other. Look at the massive brain 
of the Caucasian, at the broad and almost perpendicular 
dome of the frontal region of his head, the seat of the 
intellect; notice his fine and well cut features; his cheek 
bones prominent, with the Grecian or Eoman nose— 
everywhere indicating strength of character and will 
power—and contrast him with the back-sloping head of 
the negro, where the intellectual faculties are wanting. 
Look at the nose, as indicating weakness, his irregular 
features, no where indicating strength of mind and char¬ 
acter; look at the upturned lips, at the eyes, devoid of 
mental expression, and at the extraordinary develop¬ 
ment of the back part of the head. The common ob¬ 
server must notice that all these indicate bestiality, and 
that the negro is only the intermediate step between the 
gorilla and man proper. He may learn, may progress, if 
he exerts himself, but not by the exertion of others; but 
he will only advance slowly, and it will be an impossibility 
for him to keep pace with the rapid speed with which the 


68 


Caucasian races progresses, and he is, therefore, not in har¬ 
mony with that race. 

Besides, the constitutional and natural smell of the ne¬ 
gro, and his complexion, must be disgusting to every deli¬ 
cate mind. 

Secondly, he ought to be exported, for the reason that he 
is the cause of the existing bad feeling existing between 
the people of one section of the country against the people 
of the other section of the country; for, if you remove the 
cause of discontent and hatred, happiness, peace, and re¬ 
joicing will again return. Let the nation commence at the 
cause, and not at the effect. Pluck up the evil by the root, 
and let the mind be cleared of the mists which enshroud it 
yet to a great extent in darkness; for all trouble arises 
from the fact that people do not understand each other; 
they do not look to see what the natural consequences must 
be. 

There are yet too many white slaves. Aristocracy and 
capital has a too fearful sway; white men are yet too much 
the slave of insatiable lust and passion. Remedy this, then, 
and let the negro alone. Leave him to his own resources, 
and all will be well. 





CHAPTEE XI. 


CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES AND NATIONS. 

The history of ethnology is so well known, at least 
partially so, by the reading public, that it is unnecessary 
on my part to make extensive comments on it. I shall, 
therefore, but briefly review the matter under considera¬ 
tion. There are five primary types or races, so far as we 
hitherto have been able to discover. Notwithstanding the 
striking differences in these races, there are clear and 
defined points of resemblance between them, going to 
demonstrate that they are all built on one general plan, 
that the occurring difference is in the development and 
modulation according to the wise decree of nature's suc- 
sive stages of revolution and refinement. 

The first in order, then, is the Caucasian race, being on 
the upmost top of the ladder of perfectly organized beings, 
that is, as perfect as far as we have any conception of 
perfection, and as far as the present state of our hemis¬ 
phere will permit. ITe, the man of the Caucasian race, is 
generally white, although the complexion of the various 
branches present various shades, owing to the climate to 
which their migratory habits have brought them. The 
Caucasian is particularly distinguished by his massive 
brain, and by the protuberance of his forehead, almost at 
right angles; the predominance of the intellectual, moral, 
spiritual faculties. 

Second, is the Mongolian race, who occupy the central 
east and southeastern part of Asia. The Chinese, Japan- 


70 


eso, Thibets, Buotans, Laplanders of Europe, and the Es¬ 
quimaux on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, are the various 
branches of this race. They have advanced but little in 
civilization, owing to their exclusive social system—that is, 
they have excluded the introduction of arts and sciences 
by foreigners from their society. Their government being 
particularly favorable to itself—I mean their means of gov¬ 
erning the people—to keep the people in a state of mental 
imbecility and barbarism, while science is suppressed, and 
perfect despotism is the order of the day, and is careful to pre¬ 
vent the introduction of anything which would have a ten¬ 
dency to enlighten the people, and thereby weaken its des¬ 
potic sway. Their complexion is, in general, swarthy; and 
the great distinguishing mark between them and the first 
named race is in the structure of the cranium. The fore¬ 
head of the latter recedes, is flattened; the cheek bones are 
hardly visible, and the nose is flat, slightly concave; and 
the general expression dull and bestial. 

The third or Malayan race comprises the principal tribes 
of the Indian Archipelago. His skin is tawny, and his 
character serpent-like. It is believed that he—when I say 
he, I mean the Malayan—is not a distinct typo or race, 
but an intermixture or cross type of the Mongolian and 
Ethiopian races. He has the projecting jaws and the re¬ 
treating forehead like the other inferior races, and stands, 
consequently, in the back-ground, considered from an intel¬ 
lectual stand point. 

Fourthly, under our view comes the American race, em¬ 
bracing the American Indian tribes and all the other Amer¬ 
ican tribes, except the Esquimaux. Their cranium is gen¬ 
erally distinguished for roundness; the coronal region is 
greatly developed. Secretiveness, combativeness, and de¬ 
structiveness are largely developed—particularly so in the 
Indian. The affections—love for the other sex and love 


71 


for home—are less developed. This considered, and also his 
conical head, makes him the warrior, active and brave. 
He is the natural hunter, and is not inclined to perform 
the menial and the manual labor incident to agriculture. 
In his manner he is grave; stern and cruel in his actions ; 
and in his belief, superstitious. 

The Ethiopian, being the last named, is widely dispersed 
through Africa, particularly to the south of the Great Des¬ 
ert, Abyssinia, Australia, and in Bornea. To this race be¬ 
long the negroes imported into this country. The complex¬ 
ion of the negro is generally jet black, particularly of those 
who occupy Upper and Lower Guinea, Nubia, and the 
Caffres, of the southeastern part of Africa. The Ethiopian 
race is made up out of many sub-races. He, the Ethiopian, 
has a comparatively small face, flat nose, and projecting 
jaws, with thick lips. I shall refrain from further descrip¬ 
tion, having already made mention of him in a preceding 
chapter. 

It will next be in order to refer to the main character¬ 
istics of the principal nations, being only a modification of 
the same types. Although they differ widely in character, 
yet they have common traits, by which we may group them 
under the general head of their respective race. I. shall, 
however, confine myself to the Caucasian type. Neither 
time nor space will allow me to go more particularly into 
the details of the traits of the other races; neither do I 
believe that it would contribute to the edifying and general 
interest of the reader if I did so. 

The Caucasian race is most numerously represented by 
the German, Russian, Frenchman, Englishman, Irishman, 
Scotchman, and the American—ho being an amalgamation 
of all those previously named. The original Caucasian 
tribe was divided into five principal branches, namely: the 
Teutonic, Celtic, Sclavonic, Semitic, and Indostanic. The 


72 


Teutonic deserves the first rank, having a large brain, and 
massive intellect, supported by a large and well-proportioned 
body. The German is the best representative of the Teu¬ 
ton, although the Norwegian, Swede, Dane, and Anglo- 
Saxon are divisions of the same branch. His complexion 
is generally light and florid, his hair brown, with blue or 
gray eyes, sanguine in disposition, and of the vital or vital- 
mental temperament. He is the natural philosopher, think¬ 
er, and statesman, if properly educated; rather inclined to 
be phlegmatic and slow in action, but when he has once 
grasped with his reason a problem, he holds on to it and 
carries it out by his studious, persevering, almost stubborn 
will. He is social in his habits, and likes to partake of the 
delicacies presented, whether they be in the shape of epi¬ 
cureanism, or in the imbibing of the delicious drops of wine 
and lager beer, or in the shape of a fairy dame, whose com¬ 
pany he likewise knows how to value; and music and the 
fine arts are his favorite pursuits. The Scandinavian being 
of the Teutonic family, and in his leading traits Gothic, is 
in shape, generally taller and not so fleshy as his German 
neighbor; but he is strong and muscular; his intellect aver¬ 
age size, but his spiritual faculties are more developed than 
those of the German, which makes him almost prophetic. 

The' Danish and Swedish nations bear relation to the 
Norwegian. Their intellectual attainments are not as 
brilliant as those of the Germans, and their mental caliber 
is not so comprehensive. 

The Anglo-Saxon of England is the product of the Gothic, 
Belgic, Saxon, Norman, and Danish. The ancient Britons 
were of the Celtic race. His predominant faculties are ex¬ 
ecutiveness, cautiousness, self-esteem and firmness. This 
it is which makes him the dominant trader and navigator 
to the four ends of the globe. He is the man to lay large 
schemes, to move for great results. Physically, he is stout, 


\ 


TO 

i 6 


with broad shoulders, firmly knit, muscles, full chest, and 
good digestion—which are the sub-strata to his massive 
brain, particularly developed in the basilar region, which 
makes him the man of wealth and commerce—the energetic 
and powerful man. The Irishman, the Highlander, Welsh¬ 
man, and the Frenchman have all the peculiarities of the 
Celtic race. I shall, however, pass over the other nations 
named, and make only a few remarks on the general traits 
of the French. The brain of the Frenchman is less in vol¬ 
ume than that of the Teuton. The perceptive faculties are 
more developed in the French than in the German, but less 
developed are his reflectives. Constructiveness, imitation, 
and sense of the beautiful are largely developed; also, love 
of approbation, but he is deficient in self-esteem and vene¬ 
ration. Ilis temperament is generally bilious—nervous. 
His stature is, in general, of medium size; slender rather 
than stout; muscular limbs; has strongly marked features, 
dark complexion, black hair, and dark eyes; in action, he 
is vivacious and energetic, but not steady in his purpose, 
but rather fickle. He is rather an imitator than an origin¬ 
ator. He is courteous and sociable, particularly when he 
is among ladies. lie is easily excited, and becomes sud¬ 
denly filled with anger; but his anger is also as sudden in 
vanishing. He acts rashly, and has artistic taste. 

I proceed, now, (leaving the European nations,) to the 
characteristics and general traits of ourselves, as an 
American nation. Truly, it may be said, we are the 
proudest of nations, inheriting their peculiar characteristic 
qualities by intermarriage. We are an embodiment and 
product of the gigantic intellect and social qualities of the 
Teuton; the executive ness, pluck, and commercial shrewd¬ 
ness of the Englishman ; and the brilliant flashes of artistic 
skill and courteousness of the Frenchman, with all the 
modifications pertaining to nations bearing resemblance to 


4 


74 


the aforesaid three nations. Such a combination of talent 
ought to produce great results ; in fact, young America has 
startled the world with the discoveries it has made in 
science, the many useful inventions, and its republican 
form of government. Indeed, we are a fast nation—rather 
too fast. Every enterprise we undertake must go like 
thunder and lightning. We live too fast; we grow old be¬ 
fore maturity has arrived. Too many new theories are set 
up and old ones laid on the shelf, before we have hardly 
digested them. The mental motive temperament is deci¬ 
dedly ours; we ought not so much to agitate our minds; 
we ought to cultivate more of the social, and be not always 
after the almighty dollar—else, if we listen not to the voice 
of warning, we run the risk of premature decay—the lamp 
cannot furnish all the oil to the flickering light. Our vital 
element is on the decrease, and it cannot support the rapid 
action of the mind. Lean faces are more numerous on this 
continent, particularly in the United States, than in any 
other country. We have to be more particular and more 
careful, because the state of our climate is peculiarly fa¬ 
vorable to, and inductive of, restlessness and disease; the 
reason being, the changeability of the weather, now cold, 
then warm, now dry, next moment wet; the extremity of 
the seasons, in winter so icy cold and in summer so sultry 
warm; hence their injurious influence on the human sys¬ 
tem. 



CHAPTER XII. 


IN WHAT CONSISTS GOOD GOVERNMENT? 

The first maxim I lay down is, that all government ought 
to bo for the best interest of the governed; and, secondly, 
that all law—and including the so much talked of consti¬ 
tution as a fundamental law—is made for the people 
in general, and not the people for the laws and constitu¬ 
tion ; that is to say, that the law should be adapted to the 
present wants, circumstances, and education of the people. 
And the so much favored notion of clinging to old ideas, 
dogmas, and musty laws, notwithstanding its injurious 
effect upon society, should, as soon as possible—the sooner 
the better—be sent to the pool of oblivion, nevermore to 
make its appearance among mankind. A custom which by 
long usage has the force of law, or the enactment of posi¬ 
tive law by a legislative body, may be very appropriate at 
the time, and answer the purposes for which it was made, 
either to suppress an evil or right a wrong; yet, when cen¬ 
turies have passed, when since its enactment a new or 
new generations have sprung into existence, with new 
ideas, educated under different social principles, born 
under a different state of circumstances, perhaps the climat- 
ical, geographical, and geological influences being different 
from what they were then, (I say perhaps, I ought to have 
said that it is a fact, scientifically demonstrated, and even 
noticed by common observation, that such changes take 
place,) what legislator, of broad, comprehensive mind, and 
a large, philanthropic heart, would say that the subject for 


76 


which he enacts law T s should be governed by the same laws 
enacted for the individual centuries gone by, and who was 
surrounded by a different state of circumstances and under 
other intellectual impressions. Surely the man who would 
advocate this must be troubled with dyspepsia or lunacy. 
At present I have no reference to the modern legislator, 
for, with him, there is nothing impossible—with the excep¬ 
tion of enacting just and sound laws, based on solid reason. 
At the present day, it does not cost much to become a leg¬ 
islator. The article has become quite cheap in the market. 
The man must only be a man of profligate, stubborn habits, 
to carry out a party purpose, that is, the party who send 
him, and whose tool he is, whatever the party's politics 
are; second, he must be intellectually short-sighted, that 
ho does not see that he is a party instrument; and, thirdly, 
he must possess a small conscience, that he does not scruple 
even when he adopts wrong measures to accomplish a party 
purpose. 

Governments are, essentially, of two forms—monarchical 
and republican. Both have some modification in their in¬ 
stitution. The monarchical is divided into two classes; first, 
where the monarch is the absolute chief, who carries the 
scales of life and death with him, over his subjects, and 
whose judgment is final, whether right or wrong, and from 
which there is no appeal; second, where the monarch's 
actions are, in the main, governed by a constitution, and 
this is a more liberal form of government. 

Tho republican government is also divided into two 
branches; first, where the people make their laws through 
their representatives, and where the officers of the State, 
from the highest to the lowest, are elected by the people, 
for a certain period, and whose different candidates have 
been previously chosen by the people's representatives; 
and the second branch, properly termed democratic, while 


77 


they are going to tho other extreme, opposite to absolute 
monarchies, they are the immediate rulers themselves, 
without the interposition of representatives, and are ap¬ 
proaching nearly to the system of the ancients. 

Which of these governmental forms answer best to tho 
welfare of tho people, is the question next under considera¬ 
tion. True it is, that absolute monarchies are injurious, 
tyrannical, and that perfect despotism sways its fiery rod 
over the lacerated wounds of its wretched subjects, and 
retards their progress; but when we look at the monarchical 
government in its more lenient form, where the monarch 
is governed by a parliamental law, although his crown and 
title may be descendible, the question of propriety or impro¬ 
priety of this form of government becomes more intricate. 
This form of government has many advantages; its laws 
are made with a view of impartial justice, and they are 
carried out in the same spirit; its government is more 
stable, and not affected by party dogmas; the excitement 
of elections and the manifold frauds perpetrated there, the 
hot and fiery contentions of parties to gain predominance, 
which frequently become serious, and in threatening atti¬ 
tude make advances to destroy the government, and cause 
bloodshed and desolation—such catastrophies are not in 
general found in the monarchical systems. The administra¬ 
tion of the law runs there smooth and easy. The people 
live in a peaceable, quiet, and calm state of mind; they are 
generally not so ambitious; they are inclined more to the 
social entertainments and enjoyments ; their public officers 
are generally a more competent class of men than in other 
forms of government; the laws are more strictly enforced 
and observed. 

Although I do not wish to assert that this form of 
government is as good as a republican form of govern¬ 
ment, wisely carried on, I do mean to say that many 


78 


republican systems are defective, and that a good monarchy 
is better than a bad republic. Here, in the United States, 
we boast much of our government. No wonder there is 
so much boasting, when its ingredient (boasting) is embodied 
in the lullaby sung by the mother to the child in the cradle, 
learned on the street and in the parlor. Under these cir¬ 
cumstances, it becomes almost a second nature to us. 

Our constitution is the topic of excited discussion in the 
forum, legislative hall, and numerous other places unmen¬ 
tionable. I think the constitution was made for the people, 
and not the people for the constitution, as some men, at all 
hazards, want to have it. The constitution contains 
some immortal principles and ideas, but it needs modifica¬ 
tion, remodeling. Our patriotic forefathers adopted it 
because it was suitable to the people then, and in harmony 
with the then circumstances and condition of things. But 
since that time the customs, fashions, education, circum¬ 
stances, and condition of things have changed ; in fact, we 
are another people, with new ideas and new intellectual 
light; we have changed in character and in manners, and 
therefore must have laws suitable to our present condition. 
Even our glorious forefathers never thought to tie us down 
to laws unsuitable to us. The heroes of that age were the 
guardian angels of the peace and happiness ol their people, 
and, with this view, made laAvs for them to accomplish 
this end, leaving it to us to do the same thing, suited to our 
present conditions. How far have we, then, complied with 
the precepts of our predecessors ? Our government, though 
republican in form, is in a critical condition. In order to 
cure the defect, be vigilant, and be more impartial in your 
judgments; hold the ballot box open without distinction of 
sex or color; hold the scales of justice equal; let the elec¬ 
tive franchise be incorruptible; let government officials, 
either legislative, judicial, or executive, be not so much 


79 


pressed and influenced by party spirit. The only distinc¬ 
tion which should be made in voting is : first, an individual 
appearing to exercise the right of a citizen to vote should 
have been first long enough here to be acquainted with the 
customs, rules of government, and habits of the people; 
secondly, as a condition precedent to vote, he ought to bo 
able to read and write the English language tolerably well. 
If this were exacted, much mischief and fraud would bo 
avoided which is now perpetrated on the illiterate voter; 
who really does not know for whom he votes. Thirdly, 
crime ought to b8 a bar to voting. With the exception 
of the aforenamed conditions, every person being of sound 
mind and memory, and of legal age of majority, ought to 
have the right to vote, including negroes—and women. I 
say this : either send him away (the negro) out of this coun¬ 
try, or, if we must keep him here, give him the same rights 
you have, provided he possesses the qualifications necessary. 

And why not let woman exercise all the privileges you 
possess, provided she is qualified, if she chooses to enter 
the arena of active life, for it is not compulsory on her to 
do so ? If she is too feminine, as you want to have her, 
and shrinks back from the thorny path, thore is no one who 
compels her to accept a public office, and there can be 
nothing humiliating in the thought that she might become 
your paramour in the business and political world. For 
the dying love that you so often declare to have for her, 
you ought rather to feel dignified to have such a worthy 
companion. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


OBEDIENCE TO NATURE’S LAW MAKES HEAVEN ON EARTH. 

In order to feel happy, we must feel in our soul that we 
have obeyed nature’s social, moral, arid spiritual law. It is 
the consciousness within of having fulfilled or neglected to 
fulfill, -which makes us feel contented in the first case or 
miserable in the latter. Every violation of nature’s law 
bears with it its penalty, and consequent suffering, either 
mental or physical. The law enacted in society provides 
for the violation of its social creeds, but, in its present 
state, it is deplorably defective. It does not reach many 
ovils with which society is inflicted, fails to correct many 
wrongs, and in the prosecution of its aim it is too slow and 
too feeble to protect the weak from the aggression of the 
strong, and the deceitfulness of the wicked. 

The other branch, or the moral law, embraced by the 
canon law, and commonly administered in the consistory 
and ecclesiastical courts, pertains more to the finer feelings, 
and addresses itself to the conscience, and lets it thunder 
and lightning in our future state of existence, but provides 
no punishment for the present, and, in its remedial char¬ 
acter, it complains itself of its shortcomings. 

Next, and last, comes under consideration nature’s law, 
how far obedience to it conduces to man’s happiness, and 
how far disobedience conduces to wretchedness. Man, in 
general, is apt to speak frequently of his future state of 
existence, and of heaven or hell, as being either the one or 
the other of such future existence ; particularly are the 


81 


disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus loquacious on this 
subject, of course, as I believe, with an earnest desire to do 
good. On Sundays, when I noticed them, they were par¬ 
ticularly fervent. When they have put on their Sunday 
frock coats, and their white cravats—however, I should not 
leave out a pair of fine kid gloves in which they have en¬ 
shrouded their dainty fingers—and with a dignified and 
elegant demeanor, and a short smile to the lost sheep of 
Israel, w T ho, perchance, stands back in the dark corner in 
the house of God,.and, like the publican of old, says, God bo 
merciful to mo, a sinner, while the holy saint passes by to 
the furthermost end of the brilliantly lighted aisle of the 
church, thinking, if not saying, Thank God that I am not as 
other men, or as this publican. He forgets the sharp bar¬ 
gains he has made during the week, the twenty and up to 
fifty per cent, lie has charged the poor, unfortunate, but 
honest man, who had fallen into his gripe; or the coat, 
piece of muslin, or other dry goods which he has sold for 
double the real value to the ignorant and unsuspecting 
customer, wdio believed his honied words and smiling face. 
I say, he forgets this, or, if he remembers, he -washes him¬ 
self snow-white in the blood of the Lamb on the Lord’s 
day. And the pre-ordained minister, who by his birth was 
already destined to stand on the walls of Zion, with sten¬ 
torian voice proclaims salvation to the saint and damnation 
to the unconverted. Although his bargains may have been 
more honest than those of the church saint, yet he is con¬ 
demned. 

The preacher addresses himself too much to the belief, 
and too little to the reasoning pow T ers of men. The sermon 
is composed of feeling and historic facts. Heaven is 
preached too far off; for some future time, and then only 
for a particular class of men, who had been trained under 
church discipline. Hoav, the question is, how to get Heaven 


4 * 


82 


a little nearer and hell a little farther off. I assert that, by 
obedience to nature’s law, we get more of Heaven here on 
earth, and less of hell, as some mistaken Christians want 
to have; that is, as much hell as possible here, in order to 
earn Heaven hereafter. But how to attain this end, that 
is, to have Heaven’s beatitude and felicity here on earth 
while we have an conscious existence here, is the question. 

When we say Heaven, w r e speak rather metaphorically. 
I think happiness, felicitude, and beatitude mean, substan¬ 
tial^, the same thing, with only one exception, that the 
word Heaven, used as a popular term, generally signifies 
some far-off locality containing the elements of the attri¬ 
butes above-mentioned. In order, then, to have happiness, 
there must be a conscious individuality, which is capable of 
perceiving and enjoying it. Heaven, located here on earth, 
becomes synonymous with happiness. Man will be happy 
in proportion as ho makes others happy, for, being created 
a social being, ho feels only happy when he sees others so; 
if others feel miserable, he feels so himself; the sympathetic 
cord runs all through, and creates sameness of feeling in 
man. First, then, do as much good to others as thou canst. 
Obey the command of the Master, u Love thy neighbor as 
thyself,” in word and deed; charge him not two pennies 
when you ought only to charge him one. Secondly, obey 
the laws of health, that is to say, eat and drink not too 
much; live temperate; be not a profligate ; know how to 
bridle thy passion. Cleanliness is a powerful agent of hap¬ 
piness. The sick, suffering with pain produced either by ex¬ 
ternal accident or internal disease, cannot, in the very 
nature of things, be happy. Sickness has a two-fold effect; 
first, it reduces the bod}q and secondly, it imparts to the 
mind depression and melancholy. 

We see, then, that health is absolutely necessary in order 
to be happy. And health is dependent on the manner in 


83 


which we live. Cleanliness of body is a good antidote to 
disease; also cleanliness of dress, and the wearing of dress 
appropriate to the season. A further preventive of disease 
is good air, and, in order to have good air, you must have 
the city clean; the premises cleaned from surrounding filth ; 
your kitchen, parlor, sleeping room, and your workshop and 
store, should be kept ventilated, that the foul air may pass 
off and pure air come in. If this is strictly observed, health 
will be yours, and you will feel kind towards all men. 
Your spirits will always be in a jovial mood, and, conse¬ 
quently, you will be happy, and make others so. Thus 
mankind, as a brotherhood, may have some foretaste of 
Heaven here on earth. With this, I leave the theme to the 
careful deliberation of the reader. 



\ 



CHAPTER XI Y. 


PROGRESS PERSONIFIED WITH ROMANTIC SKETCHES. 

Id entering on the domain of progress, which embraces 
rather an extensive field—and it would make a book of 
itself—elaborately to discuss it, is not the object of this 
work ; and having also already, in a previous chapter, given 
some outlines of the subject under consideration, I shall, 
therefore, in the present chapter, content myself with a true 
sketch out of private life, for the purpose of holding the 
mirror up before the reader’s eye, by which lie may reflect 
himself, and imitate or reject the example, according as he 
conceives it right or wrong. For further illustration, I 
shall have to introduce to you Mr. C., who will relate to 
you his life’s experience, which is simple, yet instructive. 
He savs: 

"I was born under a milder clime than this (meaning 
ours), where the sun’s fiery wheel glides gently down on 
earth’s inhabitants; in summer, neither scorching nor boil¬ 
ing their blood, and in winter their blood is not icy cold, 
(a;s is ours here). 

“ Hurricanes and storms are seldom visitors, but sweet 
zephyr breezes are gently wafted there. European I am 
by birth. The giant river Rhine (rightly called Father 
Rhine) passes my father’s cottage house. The placp of my 
childhood, where memory is fond of lingering, to witness 
again the childish frolics, and the manifold happy hours 
passed at the cottage door, near the deep, blue, calm, and 
broad oxpanse of father Rhine, bearing upon its bosom the 


r 


85 


many sails and steamers crossing each other, heavily loaded 
with the products either of the soil or of manufactured 
ware, and yet they fly swiftly by, like a bird chased before 
a wind-storm ; and then contrast the manifold decorations 
and variations of colors and flags of the different nations as 
they dance and whirl on the broad expansive breast of 
father Rhino. Now witness with me the fertile fields, the 
ever green meadows, the gorgeous dales, and luxurious val¬ 
leys, which wind themselves along the border of the Rhine ; 
the thriving cities, with their strong fortresses and military 
display; the thousands of villages spread around near this 
mighty stream. Their very appearances reminds one of 
the Holy Writ, where it gives an account of the first Para¬ 
dise, where Adam and Eve had been placed before the se¬ 
ducer came. 

“So gorgeous is their appearance in spring and summer, 
thoy appear, from the distance, like a mighty rose bush; 
together with which may be noticed its large orchards, its 
highly cultivated gardens, its neat cottages, and its ami¬ 
able people. 

“ There you find the fountain head, which supplies the 
world with its delicious sap—the vine. Its vine bergs are 
called legion, so numerous are they—its sunny hills are so 
much favorable to the culture of the grape. Amid all this, 
if you pass along on the river side, you meet, perchance, a 
cataract, in all its grandeur and sublimity, or you find here 
and there disseminated some grand old castle, or their ruins, 
at least—which still, in their state of decay, are grand— 
whose towering walls look ghastly down in the blue deep ; 
and, perchance, you might hear yet the rattle of the chain 
of some ancient baron, who comes to visit his home again. 
Or, perhaps, you might be startled by the rustle of the 
silken dress, in which the spirit of a departed Madonna re¬ 
appears again. Such castles were the seats of some feudal 


86 


baron in the time when the feudal system was in force— 
that is, when all the people (called plebians) living around 
such castles, having sworn to their noblemen to render them 
fealty, that is, to work for them, cultivate the ground, or 
perform military service for them. If we proceed on we 
arrive at the fountain head, where the mighty river springs 
forth from beneath the rocky strata, and, like any other 
quiet brook, murmuring winds its way through bush and 
meadow, little knowing to what high destiny it is destined. 
And above the lofty mountain peak, intruding almost into 
the sacred citadel of Heaven, with its stately glaciers mov¬ 
ing down majestically from its snowy bights; and below; 
the blooming groves at the side of sparkling rivulets; amid 
all, your ear is struck with the sweet warbling of the 
nightingale and the melodies of the humming birds. Such 
are a few of the many picturesque pieces of scenery which 
present themselves to the traveler’s gaze, and which hold 
him in constant ecstacy.” 

Here Mr. C. stopped his descriptive narration, and said: 

“ I remember well my school days, when, as a boy, I had 
many a romp with the other school-boys. How happy and 
innocent are those days when life is yet like a bubble, 
when it wears yet a golden hue, when all is bright and 
fair, when castles are built in the air; when the mind is 
yet unhinged, and knows nothing of the thorns which stand 
on life’s path. 

“My father being a mechanic, and not being in favorable 
circumstances—that is, in a pecuniary point of view—could 
not give me an extraordinary education, aside from that 
which the government confers, namely: the government 
provides for the education of children, which is compulsory 
on the parents and guardians of children, in that they have 
to send their offspring or wards from the period when they 
arrive at six years of age to the age of twelve—which, by 


87 


the way, I consider a wise system, worthy to he imitated; and 
so, consequently, almost every child (if it is not an idiot) 
learns the elementary branches of education. To that ex¬ 
tent, then, went my education, with the exception of a 
couple of winters, when I took some extra lessons. My 
old school-master was a good natured fellow, and a little 
lazy sometimes—for which 1 now pardon him, because I 
could have expected nothing else, ho being a government 
officer, and it seems natural for them to be so. He had 
rather an odd way of punishing; when the boys became 
too noisy, he generally called each of the refractory little 
fellows to his desk, when they had to bring their rules with 
them; having arrived at his desk, he put his spectacles 
aside, and, with stentorian voice, commanded the little sin¬ 
ner to hold forth his linger tips, and then, with the coldness 
of a tyrant, he took the bo}^s own rule, and inflicted as 
many slaps as he deemed the enormity of the crime re¬ 
quired, for which the boys often wished that he had gone 
to the deuce. 

u My schooling days being finished, the only fiery ordeal 
I had to go through was to be admitted to the church, this 
being also regulated by the government; and the preacher 
or priest is, indirectly at least, a government officer. My 
parents being professors of the Protestant religion, I had 
consequently to go through a religious training, according 
to the church’s creed—which takes about two years, in 
which time the minister inculcates the religious doctrines, 
according to his understanding of them—preparatory to 
the admission of the applicant to the church and to the 
communion. My minister, who was my religious tutor, 
was a thick, fat man, of good education, save some religious 
blunders which he entertained in his brain; ho was rather 
stubborn and straight-forward in his action, but had gen¬ 
erally good common sense. Having passed through the 


88 


preparatory stage, I became a member of the church, as 
every good Christian ought to be. 

“ Being now fifteen years of age, I was destined to learn 
my father’s trade, of course not of my own inclination. 
What business I would like to follow was not for me to de¬ 
cide. I was not consulted. It is a general, yet false, no¬ 
tion among the European people, first, that the son must 
learn his father’s trade, and step, so to speak, in his father’s 
shoes; secondly, it is the prevailing idea that to give a 
classical education, or that beyond the rudimental branches, 
to the child or children of the common citizen or mechanic, 
is a luxury; and the parents themselves, even if they had 
the means to afford to give their children a first-class edu¬ 
cation, consider it as money thrown away, and of no use. 

u Thirdly, it is the erroneous notion of parents that 
they should derive some benefit and advantage, some com¬ 
pensation from their children, for the trouble they have 
had with them in raising them—-just as though they were 
raising oxen or cows, with the expectation of gaining some¬ 
thing by so doing—instead of which, they should endeavor 
to make a man proper or a woman proper out of their 
children; that is, they should cultivate the mental spark 
within, raise them to a higher intellectual plane. Some¬ 
times their poverty compels them to adopt the previous 
course, and this can be no better effected than by the son 
learning his father’s trade, or assisting him in his agricul¬ 
tural or other pursuits. So I learned my father’s trade, 
and made myself generally useful at home—to which be¬ 
longs also the privilege of visiting once in a while a coun¬ 
try belle or milkmaid; but these things have to be managed 
slyly. But enough of this. 

“ The years had arrived when the monarch had a demand 
on me, as he always has, in all monarchical governments, on 
his subjects. The term of offioe, or, rather, service , is three 


89 


years, in which time ho is drilled, and loarns to shoulder 
the musket, or draw the ramrod, or to mount tho cannon. 
At the age of twenty years, each sound-bodied male person 
is subject to bo drafted and to serve the king for throe years 
or longer, or, if the subject wishes to equip himself, board 
himself, and pay all expenses incident to military life, his 
lord, the king, requires from him only one year’s service. 
After due consideration, knowing that my lord tho king 
would require my services for the fatherland, being neither 
a cripple nor debilitated in any shape or form, or on which 
else an excuse might be got, I concluded that I would serve 
his majesty as short a time as possible, and, although a 
little more expensive, I entered the army for one year, 
accepting as my choice that division of the army known as 
artillery. 

“The life of a soldier in a monarchical government in 
time of peace, in some respects, is good for the after man. 
The heedlessness of youth is somewhat curtailed there, and 
ho learns order and discipline. But the tyranny exercised 
there, and the feeling of subordination, did not suit my 
mental condition. The year passed swiftly by, and I re¬ 
turned home. But now there was a new programme pre¬ 
pared for me. I had two old aunts—who, by the way, 
were old maids. I, being the eldest of the family, and 
playing the most conspicuous role , was, in consequence, 
chosen by my aunts to be the sole heir and successor of 
their estates. The will was drawn, signed and sealed, but 
revocable at the pleasure of my aunts during their lives, 
which I, at that time, did not know, else I should not have 
entered into the arrangement, the conditions of which were 
that I should live with them and manage the affairs of the 
estate. Intoxicated by such good luck and prospective 
happiness, I entered the residence of my aunts as my future 
home, and for some time managed the affairs. But, alas ! 


90 


to what ills is human flesh heir to ! My happy dream van¬ 
ished from my memory. My aunts and I disagreed in the 
management of the business. They disapproved of my 
mode of living. They picked at every trivial thing. I 
also maintained my rights and my manhood, as from an 
honest conviction I thought I was right, for I had made it 
a maxim when I thought I was right to go straight ahead. 
My life now became miserable to me. My aunts, although 
they nfeant it good, were troubled too much with old 
maids’ peevishness. They labored under mental fits and 
hallucinations, which is generally characteristic of old 
maids. 

“Well, finally, I left them, with an intention nevermore 
to return, and forever to renounce any claim on the estate. 
I have ever since avoided old maids, being conscious that 
they understand how to make it as warm as in lielTabout 
them. 

“After I had dissolved my engagement with my aunts, 
the government called on me again to render military 
service. There was a little trouble expected between two 
adjoining monarchies, as is often the case, being jealous of 
each other in the acquirement of power. Then I became 
disgusted with European governments and despotism. I 
determined, singlo as I was, to cross the broad Atlantic, 
and test the virtue of republican government. For this 
purpose I engaged passage on board of a steamer destined 
for New York. Nothing remarkable occurred, except a 
few heavings of the sea, and also of the stomach, and the 
occasional appearance of a squadron of porpoises, eagerly 
waiting to devour some unfortunate mortal who, acci¬ 
dentally or designedly, should make a little trip overboard 
into the ocean’s deep, for the purpose of forming the 
acquaintance of the submarine inhabitants. 

“After a twelve days’ voyage we reached our destination, 


91 


New York, with its green isle and headlands in front of it. 
Great was my joy when I saw the great metropolis of 
America. As I entered the city I noticed a different state 
of affairs from that of European cities. There was a great 
deal more activity manifested, a more lively stir, than I 
had seen in the cities of Europe. An omnibus was engaged, 
which conveyed me and my baggage to the hotel, with only 
twenty-five dollars as the remnant of my capital. In a 
new and strange world, with other customs and habits, and 
unable to speak and understand the vernacular idiom of the 
new world, but young and strong, with high hopes and 
a determined will, I soon succeeded in finding employment, 
so that I was able to satisfy all my ordinary wants. But 
I came to this country as a student. I saw that here a new 
field of action had been opened for me. I observed that 
learning makes the man; that knowledge is the controlling 
power of society, and a man who possesses it is demanded 
in every sphere of action; that he may lose his wealth, that 
a thief may rob his purse, yet he cannot steal his mental 
acquirements. So I was a student every moment. First, 
I studied the English language : during the day, in my em¬ 
ployment, by observation, and at night, after the day’s 
labor had been performed, I entered my closet to study, 
while my comrades wore loitering about the streets and 
having idle conversations and talking gossip. Meanwhile, 
I entered also the study of the French language, for I con¬ 
ceived it to be useful, more so than a dead language. Sun¬ 
day found me in the church and in the Sabbath school, a 
diligent scholar, for I thought that it was no serious sin, if 
any crime at all, to learn on Sundays, and of course was bet¬ 
ter on that day to learn than mental inertia or the frequent¬ 
ing of beer and whisky shops. I made also the acquaintance 
of Fowler & "Wells, became a subscriber of their journal, and 
learned inthe course of time that certain persons are adapted 


92 


to certain occupations, and that certain talents are indicated 
by respective organs, if we only know how to read them, and 
so this formed an essential branch of my studies. I must 
say that this was the cause which made me after my courso 
of life, and choose a profession to which I thought I was 
adapted, and also possessed the natural ability, if only 
brought out and polished. 

“ But now came trouble. The horizon darkened itself 
before my vision. Climatical disease encroached itself 
upon my physical system. Fever and ague had its 
sway over me. I determined to get rid of this unbidden 
guest by going west, where I had some relations living who 
had resided there for many j r ears. I purchased a ticket, 
entered the car, and the steam horse rolled on westward, 
through hills and dales, through forests and prairies, till, 
finally, it arrived at a country town in the great Prairie 
State, which being situated on a high pre-eminence, and be¬ 
low it rolls on the silent current of the Mississippi. The 
conductor announced that he had fulfilled his part of the 
contract as a common carrier, in that I was at the place 
of my mission. 

“I hurried to my relations, found them all well, and in a 
short time I had recruited my health again. During my 
sta}’, there happened nothing in particular, except that I 
became acquainted with the rosy-cheeked country damsels, 
and also the students of a college which was situated there. 
I soon joined, became a member of their debating club, and 
in debate, though of the freshman’s class, gave them thun¬ 
der and lightning, which convinced them sufficiently that 
college training is not the only method whereby genius is 
acquired. 

“The war now broke out, and sundered the countrv’s 
heart in twain. Now, what I had before evaded, namely, 
military service, I volunteered to perform, but from a dif- 


03 


feront motive. Since the cruel war had begun, hostilities 
commenced, and no other remedy left for the existence or 
non-existence of the United States, although there might, 
have one existed before the war commenced, but which had 
not been adopted, every patriotic heart felt the necessity of 
rendering actual service, either on one side or the other, for 
there were patriots South as well as patriots North. A 
man may be a patriot, although he may be wrong, if he 
only acts for his country’s good, according to what he be¬ 
lieves to be right. So I entered the army, inspired by pat¬ 
riotism for what I believed to be right, but joined the Fed¬ 
eral army instead of the Confederate, and the battles of 
Harper’s Ferry, Eoanoke Island, Newborn, and Beaufort, 
North Carolina, tell their own tale of the work we per¬ 
formed. After the expiration of fourteen months’ service, 
for which time I had enlisted, and my health also failing in 
consequence of the hardships concomitant in war, I re¬ 
signed. 

“On my return, I stopped with a friend in Ohio, he being 
one of the trustees of a university there. He advised me 
to attend School there, and tit myself for some profession. 
He being a strong Methodist, of course he expected to tit 
me for the Methodist ministry. By this time I had, by 
my own exertion, without a teacher, learned to read, write 
and speak the English language tolerably well. I had also 
learned French, and spoke it very correctly. Phrenology 
and other works on philosophy had also been my favorite 
study, for I had occupied my time well, so much so that 
occasionally my associates remarked, when they saw me 
deeply engaged in metaphysics, and they reading nonsense, 
that it would make their head ache if they were to read my 
works. And I thought so too, at this time being only two 
years in my adopted country; being then fully competent 
to enter the upper classes, and take the higher branches 


94 


generally devoted to the sophomore class, because, first 
having learned the elementary branches in my native land, 
and recently having acquired knowledge by self-instruction 
and observation, having by this time become rather an 
old student, being nearly twenty-four years old \ but I had 
resolved to make up for lost time, and so I did. When the 
clock struck twelve at night I ceased to work—I mean to 
study, for I confess it is harder than manual labor. When 
the clock struck five, a. m., I resumed my labor. I stayed 
there one year. Nothing of importance happened. It is, 
perhaps, needless to say that in the peaceful grove around 
the college home no blood was shed. The war there raging 
was only a mental one. 

“ Becoming cognizant of the fact that the teacher can 
also not pump the lesson into the pupil’s head, but that the 
scholar must work himself in order to gain knowledge, and 
that at most he can only facilitate the process a little, such 
institutions being merely designed as a beneficiary for the 
young and inexperienced lad or lass to regulate their habits 
and strengthen their will power, and to inculcate religious 
doctrine in their hearts, according to the sect which supports 
the institute. Having acquired all this, and a little more, 
and also having no desire to enter the Methodist ministry, 
because, if I had preached according to my own conviction, 
.1 could not have officiated as such; and to be the hypocrite, 
the dissimulator, as I found that many of the brethren 
were, I was too straight-forward. Consequently I left, for 
the purpose of entering another department of the pro¬ 
fession. 

“ In the beautiful month of May, I entered my name in 
the law department of a Michigan University. But now, 
as a disciple of Blackstone, an immense amount of labor 
was to be done ; and the silent chamber of the college, and 
the ever sympathizing moon, peeping through the window, 









95 


can best toll whether I did do it. After one year’s weary 
and incessant labor, having read through the course pre¬ 
scribed by college rules, and attended the lectures, I felt 
myself competent to stand the test of an examination. 
Having made due application, a day was appointed by the 
court for examination. The eventful day for mo arrived; 
the large court room was filled with spectators. The judge 
on his bench sat with a mien profound; three able prac¬ 
titioners were appointed by the Court to conduct the ex¬ 
amination, under his supervision. Another applicant and 
myself entered the arena, and for two hours stood the 
cross-fire of able counsel, and remained fire-proof, when 
finally the judge ordered a cessation of hostilities, and di¬ 
rected the clerk to issue licenses for our admission to the 
bar, after the administration of the usual oath. This ended 
my collegiate course, and if I had been only twenty years old, 
and had come right from my mother’s lap, instead of being 
twenty-six years of age, and having already seen much of 
the world’s realities, I would have also said that the many 
fanciful dreams and vivid imaginations, and the many in¬ 
nocent hobbies, had come to an end, in coming in contact 
with a rough, cold, and evil world. But as I had laid aside 
those articles long ago, I was acquainted with the world’s 
familiar way. Ere I left my college home, (being now 
a little over four years in my adopted country, and being 
now admitted to practice law,) at the request of divers 
friends, I delivered a lecture in a Baptist church to a large 
and appreciative audience, and which met the approval of 
the old minister.” 

Here my friend introduced to me a copy of it, which I 
hereby submit to the perusal of the reader. 


» 


96 


"temperance lecture. 

“ As I have the honor to address you to-night, I beg leave 
to secure your attention, and I will endeavor to explain to 
you my object in view. 

“The topic of my lecture is somewhat different from 
those which you have, perhaps, been accustomed lately to 
hear; yet a variety is imperative, to strike the different 
cords of the heart, in order to produce a harmonious re¬ 
sult. 

“ Our watchword is: ‘ As you live, so you die.’ 

“ It has been frequently remarked that temperance and 
modesty were entirely disconnected from Bible truths or a 
Christian life. Now, it seems to us that such notions are, 
wherever expressed, very erroneous. We maintain that 
religion must be based on such virtues, and where they do 
not exist there is no religion at all. They are identified; 
either one cannot exist without the other. This we can 
establish with many passages out of the Bible, of which we 
cite you one which reads as follows (the Epistle of Paul to 
the Romans, chapter 13, verse 13). 

“ I shall give you a short synopsis of the two great fields 
of temperance and intemperance, and their effects, and imme¬ 
diate and ultimate results. To give an accurate description 
of the two great elements, we have first to allege the sub¬ 
jects on which they operate, in what circumstances and 
situations, and in what condition. 

“As man is the great actor of life, in all its dramatical 
operations; as man is the great object of care and solici¬ 
tude of both his fellow-men and God, as his Creator, for the 
reason that the former is immediately affected by his ac¬ 
tion, and of the latter because ho is the choicest one, and 









97 


the highest type of creation, and bears the image of Om¬ 
nipotence, the pure and the Holy One. Such prerogative 
has man; such is his original condition, and he, also, has 
subjected himself to the debasing and degrading and vicious 
habits of intemperance. Man was created as a free moral 
agent, having the power of choice to select either good or 
evil, to pursue the path of virtue, or sail with the dazzling 
current on the ocean of vice ancf infamy, down into the 
groundless abyss of destruction. I say he can act freely, 
as far as natural and social law do permit it. From such 
free action he must, as a free being, also bear and reap the 
natural results of such actions. 

“Those irrevocable, inherent, and immutuable laws can 
never be extinguished or obliterated. Law is effused into 
the most insignificant atom or tissue of organic vegetable 
and animal life, and so, gradually on, till we embrace the 
whole universe. The celestial bodies, making their regular 
revolutions in their orbits, are subject to such laws. As 
the atmosphere pervades the entire universe, without leav¬ 
ing any vacuum, so law pervades human society. Gov¬ 
ernmental organization may be altered or modified, yet 
never annihilated, as long as man exists and lives in a 
social state. If he violates that law he must not only 
suffer himself, but also his fellow men become affected by 
such outrageous perpetration and bad example, and have 
to suffer for the results of such contagious disease. 

“The physical sufferings (which are the origin of the 
punishment for violation of the physical and natural laws) 
are only the intimations of a future retribution. 

“ The great distinction between man and beast is, that 
he possesses the attribute of reason; that he is susceptible 
of culture and improvement; that he may rise gradually in 
the scale of intelligence and knowledge. The beaver builds 
its house, and the bird its nest, in the same manner and 


5 


98 


according to the same plan that it did two thousand years 
ago; there is no change whatever. But man’s mind and 
character is subject to changes. He may form good or bad 
habits, but he has also to reap the fruits thereof, good 
or evil. 

“ The indulgence of certain enjoyments to a certain limit, 
as far as they are conducive to our health and happiness, as 
far as it is necessary for self-preservation, as far as it is in 
conformity with natural, social, and physical laws, in 
those things which God created for man to be happy, is 
right and just, is according to the dictates of God’s word. 
It is an imperative duty for every one. God created man 
to enjoy life and its blessings, but He commanded him also 
not to forget his Creator; so that we, his creatures, in all 
our actions, should seek to glorify Him. So we see that a 
moderate enjoyment is not prohibited but sanctioned by 
our Creator. 

“ I am aware that you are ready to ask, for what shall 
we, then, suffer penalty, punishment, if such is the case— 
that we are entitled to enjoy life and its blessings ? If you 
will give me your attention, I will make a fair explanation 
of it. It is the abuse of this prerogative, the voluptuous¬ 
ness, the excessive indulgences, which constitute the sad 
picture of intemperance. Evil and good lives here together 
intermingle with each other in social and in domestic rela¬ 
tion. Numberless crimes are daily committed by the many 
millions of inhabitants on this globe, and some good is also 
daily done, and much ought to be done. Take me as your 
guide, and follow me, in imagination, through the different 
stages and localities where those vicious acts are per¬ 
formed, where virtue has left her imperial throne. Step 
w r ith me into a splendid, dazzling saloon, where the differ¬ 
ent kinds of spirituous liquors are exposed for sale, and 
you see the wretched victims enticed by such inducements 


99 


from a peaceful home, from a cheerful fireside, gratifying 
their appetites; and follow me from the highest and most 
gorgeous saloon down to the lowest cellar, and you will 
find everywhere that Satan has been successful in securing 
inmates for his kingdom. There we meet with the most 
dreadful scene which can ever present itself to human sight. 
The man of such high calling has degraded himself has 
become intoxicated; he has nothing more left, his sound 
sense is dimmed, he has no more command over himself. 
He is like a boat loft in the rapids of Niagara, unable to re¬ 
sist any further the imperious torrent of his passion. He 
stands, in that condition, on a lower scale than the inferior 
brute creation. 

“The brute creation is guided and governed by a never- 
erring instinct; its appetite can be satisfied; when it gets 
enough, it stops. But the drunkard knows no boundary; 
he is the irresistible slave of his passion—chained to all 
that is dishonorable and debasing with the fetters by which 
Satan entices men to bring them to everlasting ruin. See 
that once so tranquil home, where once the countenances 
of wife and children blossomed, like the flowers of spring 
when the first golden morning rays of a rising sun throws 
his majestic beams on the fair daughters of the field, to 
induce them to open their buds, to let their beauties shine, 
and to effuse their fragrance that all may enjoy it. So here, 
once, did he meet on the threshold, a smiling wife, with a 
speaking eye, full of love and affection. Once did he hear 
the shout of the little ones who thronged around him with 
cheerful faces, to congratulate their father on his returning 
home from business. But now all is silent. Awful silence ! 
The once so orderly and harmonious moving of the house¬ 
hold machinery did stop. The wife, instead of smiling, did 
look grave and sorrowful; his children, who once burst out 
in shouts of joy on his approach, now are horror-stricken 


100 


when they see him, and regard him as a demon whom 
they should hate rather than love. The once so gorgeous 
looking cottage or mansion house is now in a state of 
decay. Poverty threatens with a still louder voice. What 
is it that has brought about this change? O, wretched 
man! thou hast wrought thy own fate. Thou hast not 
only banished the peace of thy family forever, but thou 
hast ruined thy constitution. Thou hast prepared thyself 
for an untimely grave, hast committed an indirect suicide, 
robbed thy family and society of an active member, and 
the word woe is engraved in capital letters on thy coun¬ 
tenance. 

" Do I need mention to you that spirituous liquors and 
alcohol, of which the principal liquors are to a great ex¬ 
tent composed, are poisonous ? Try a simple experiment. 
Pour a little whisky or brandy on the table and light it 
with a match. You will then see how quick the flame 
will consume the whole. Immerse a piece of meat in such 
fluid, and you will see that it will instantly become white. 
You can now have an idea what the result is when such a 
poison passes into the stomach ; that it will destroy all 
within its reach in the course of time. All authentic 
chemists and doctors of high repute declare, unanimously, 
that it is a fatal poison. And I do not care what such 
doctors as in the popular language are termed quacks say, 
even if they hold the contrary. Not only is the body 
ruined, but also the mind. Delirium, insanity, disorder of 
the mental organization, manifest themselves. Conception 
js dim, but perception is vivid. Every fiction and imagi¬ 
nation assumes a reality; pictures of every description 
throng themselves in the most irregular order before the 
mind. The will is dethroned, and he remains a mere pas¬ 
sive instrument. He does not move or act for himself, 
but by means of the vivid picture, which assumes reality. 


101 


He is acted upon in such a fearful state. He acts, and 
may commit the greatest crime, knowing it to be so, and 
he may revolt from it with horror, but the predominant 
idea tyrannizes over the mind, and, by a sort of irresistible 
fatality, drives it on to the commission of the deed. 

“A second subdivision of intemperance is the use of to¬ 
bacco. It is maintained by physicians that this indulgence 
proves also a vicious result. It is certainly contrary to 
the decency and decorum of well-bred society, and par¬ 
ticularly to those who pretend to have received the higher 
culture of refinement and politeness. When I see them 
in the habit of indulging in these articles, I think some¬ 
times that there is very little of this higher virtue left. 
Approach a man who chews tobacco, and already you 
smell the vicious odor, like that of brother whisky, at a 
distance of four yards, and you know with what kind of 
person you have to deal. Perchance we meet sometimes 
a man who is puffing away, like a propeller with a vessel of 
two hundred tons in tow, endeavoring to make headway, at 
the same time breasting wind and waves. The dimensions 
of such a pipe is sometimes larger than the whole man, 
including boots and hat. The money thus spent can be 
appropriated in a far better way. If such a man does not 
know of any other way to spend the money, he should 
go and contribute it to the missionary cause. He would 
then be sure that it would bring forth fruit, some sixty, 
some eighty, some an hundred fold. It is not only the 
dissatisfaction of money spent in this way, but connected 
with it is the danger to health and the waste of time. And 
it is also a general custom that, while smoking, the time is 
spent in idle conversation, and such seed sown produces 
evil fruit. Such are the results of these vicious habits. 

“ The third subdivision is, the visiting of men and 
women to places of amusement, such as going to dancing 


102 


halls, or going to shows of ill-fame, to concerts or theaters 
which are managed or conducted in an ill manner, so as to 
corrupt the good morals of the people. And certainly 
dancing is one of the most luring indulgences, by which, 
particularly, the young are embraced; by which they are 
enticed from the path of virtue. The dazzling music 
echoes in the innermost recesses of the heart; they are 
charmed, attracted by the noise and the pompous manner 
in which it is carried on ; they love excitement, which is 
attributable to their years, when the instinctive passions 
have their sway and command of the whole man, having 
had no experience of their own of the bad results which 
such a career will produce, no discipline of mind to subdue 
such evil passions. But such an evil, whoever carries such a 
lust in execution, will soon experience the bad results; body 
and soul will run with the velocity of lightning to destruc¬ 
tion, and ail the bright hopes of life are lost forever. Such a 
voluptuous life will not only affect the actor himself, but 
it will corrupt those with whom he associates, in the pri¬ 
vate walks of life, as man is apt to imitate, to form the 
character and habits according to those influences with 
which he is surrounded. Therefore, it is a verified truth, 
which Solomon in one of his passages announces, namely, 
tell me with whom thou associate and I will tell thee who 
thou art. So here, such persons adopt such habits as those 
have with whom they are in daily communication. 

“ Among the more lower animal propensities, the 
appetites of the stomach form a predominant feature; 
sometimes, in some men, so much so that they become 
almost all stomach. He has become their idol, for which 
they live and act; their taste for the more pure enjoy¬ 
ments are gone; they drag themselves around in the filthy 
marsh of sin. 

ft There are yet other excessive propensities, which, if 



103 


they are of a somewhat higher nature, are equally exten¬ 
sive in their magnitude, and no less dangerous to our well 
being; such as the ambitious desire for honor and renown, 
the constant entertainment of excessive imagination, num¬ 
berless pictures throng themselves in the imagination, 
chamber of the mind, many a fine picture raging in the 
brain. Such a person lives entirely in the imagination, 
forgets the reality, and becomes entirely worthless to 
society. 

“ The rebellion was a mere outburst of the dormant, 
lazing passion. The affairs of this country and all human 
affairs could, and can be, settled in a peaceful manner, if 
men only intend to live and act according to the truth, if 
he puts the slumbering passion to rest and under restraint. 
But fearful is man’s aspect in a state where the appetites 
and the passions have taken the whole command of him. 
Yet still more awful is his prospect in a world to come. 

i( We next consider the opposite body, the machinery of 
temperance, its effects and results among mankind. We 
have now under our immediate view a field of a different 
aspect. Here blossom the flowers of heavenly origin. 
Here, in one part, the harvest is ripe, having borne from 
sixty to an hundred fold. All is in abundance, which pre¬ 
sents to the traveler a gorgeous aspect; which leads him 
to reflect, to meditate over the works and ways of divine 
Providence, how he has blessed the fostering care of men. 
Divine Providence is present in all their actions, in storm 
and in sunshine, in joy and in sorrow, on the water and on 
land, in war and in peace, by night and by day, in all capa¬ 
cities has he manifested himself. 

“ In another part of that great field of action we are per¬ 
mitted to take another glimpse, in the field of promise and 
hopes. Here are several hands busily ongaged in sowing 
the tender seed of tomperanco; yonder the first germ 


104 


sprouts out of the mother earth, promising to bear fruit. 
See how watchful, with what a degree of tenderness, they 
protect the young seed from the frosty blast of the threat¬ 
ening midnight storm, and from the envy and malicious 
prosecution of an enemy. 

“ In whatever department you enter in this great ma¬ 
chinery, they work in a harmonious manner and for one 
great object, and their united efforts produce, also, a har¬ 
monious and a glorious result. 

“ So, also, is the life of a man who lives in temperance, 
who regulates his different performances, repose,enjoyment, 
and devotion; who gratifies the instinctive passion as far 
the physical nature permits, as far as it is not in contro¬ 
versy and opposition to the dictates of religion and social 
l decorum. And see the result! He lives in the enjoyment 
of health, of domestic bliss and tranquility, undisturbed by 
the tempest of destruction and ruin which endangers the 
home of the drunkard. He m enabled to conduct his affairs 
with success, while his rosy cheeks speak of health and 
vigor, and with capital letters philanthropist is engraved in 
the expression of his face. He labors for the promotion of 
education; he promulgates good morals and good taste, by 
word and example; he sympathizes with and rescues the 
poor and wretched from ruin, helps them, sustains and sup¬ 
ports them, that they also may be received into the great 
brotherhood, and enjoy the blessings of life and become co¬ 
laborers with him in the great mission of life. And the 
reward is great for him ; he already enjoys part of it here 
below. The very consciousness of doing good is a great 
satisfaction to the soul, which the world can neither give 
nor take away. He is the loved one of his wife and chil¬ 
dren, relatives or friends, who sail under the same banner, 
who are bound for the same destiny, who cherish the same 
hope of immortality, and these manifestations produce love 



105 


again for those around him. And behold ! when death is 
approaching, to call the wearied traveler home, to relieve 
him from his post, from his labors and cares and watching, 
tobid him rest, until the great resurrection day, when all the 
dead shall rise and receive their rewards, either good or 
evil, when the heavenly host shall stand ready, in white 
robes, to await the command of the first and the last, the 
King of Kings, to join in song with their musical instru¬ 
ments, to sing Him an everlasting hallelujah. In this glory 
he is also invited to participate, because he has acted well 
his part in the great drama of life. Step to his bed-side as 
he is about to depart. You see no fears, no tears, no sor¬ 
row in his face. He is cheerful; happiness is read in 
his expression. He consoles his beloved one, not to be 
sorrowful, that he goes, not to depart forever, but that a 
mere transformation takes place, a separation of body and 
spirit; that the body has to go to earth, from which it was 
taken, and the spirit also goes to the place from which it 
came, to join its maker again, in order that it may glorify 
Him. And thus they part, with the sweet consciousness 
that they will meet again on Canaan’s shore. 

“Look! how he yet admonishes the dear ones to remain 
in the path of virtue, and then departs. His name will live 
by posterity in a holy remembrance. And such is the ca¬ 
reer of the righteous one, who has made use of the powers 
with which the Maker has endowed him, to promulgate 
virtue, temperance, and religion among his fellow-men. 

“ But go with me to the dark chamber of one who is in 
his dying hour; who has spent his life in the lust of this 
wicked world; who has taken part in all the different kinds 
of vices ; who has wholly devoted his strength and energy 
to gratify his sinful desires; who has done no good, no act 
worthy of imitation; who has never relieved the poor, never 
protected the innocent, or fostered virtue. AYatch his fea- 


5 * 


106 


tures. Furrows cross his forehead; the life of dissipation 
has left its marks on his face; hollow is now the once so 
promising countenance; the eyes, once so full of luster, are 
almost lifeless. A sigh of agony glides out of the heaving 
breast, and in spasmodic phrases he exclaims : 'O, I am 

wretched V ( 0, I am lost V 'Is there no help V 'Is there 
no physician ? no remedy V 

"O, dreadful aspect! Unhappy, wretched creature, thou 
hast wrought thy fate; thou art the destroyer of thyself. 
It is too late ! Oh, terrible ! awful words. And after a 
little while we hear our friend exclaim: ' He is gone V 
Gone, forever! Lost, forever! Gone to receive the re¬ 
ward of the deeds done while living ; and the eternal Judge 
must condemn him; there is no pardon more; the proba¬ 
tionary time has gone by, and the Judge is compelled to 
pronounce such an award, in conformity with the law, and 
he will say to him, 'thou wilt remember that thou hast re¬ 
ceived thy inheritance, thy portion; thou enjoyed thy part; 
thou hadst time to increase thy talent, which thou had re¬ 
ceived; it is now taken from you and given to another; 
there is now no more any time to reform, to repent; the 
day of of reckoning has now come/ and he goes down the 
unfathomable depth of despair, never more to be heard of. 
Such is the end of an ill-spent life, which has been a disgrace 
to society, to mankind, instead of being a blessing to it. 

"How, my dear hearers, how does it stand with you? 
Are you yet tied with the shackles of sin, of intemperance, 
down to the dust ? Ho you move yet in the lower region 
of animal life ? Are you yet slaves to your passion ? Are 
you yet under the control and bondage of a never contented 
appetite? Are you yet subject to secret sins? Have you 
ruined your body already ? Are you already fallen as the 
victim of temptation ? Is your intellect already clouded 
with the dark clouds of intoxication ? Is your conscious- 


#• 



107 


ness senseless, dead to admonition ? Has delirium over¬ 
taken you as the consequence of having daily taken this 
deadly poison, and which has irritated and confused your 
mind and brought you to a state of indifference and stupid¬ 
ness ? I hope not. Such a thought is too terrible, too 
awful. I will persuade myself that you are still safe. 0 
blessed state of mind if conscience speaks that we have 
peace. Is there no young man here to-night who had once 
a dream, like a young man I once read of in a pamphlet, 
who had already been seduced by surrounding vices, who 
early in his youth had tasted of the burning and abom¬ 
inable cup of pollution ? He dreamed that ho was walking 
on the brink of ruin, (as he really, actually did, and this is 
very natural, in that the mind is actively engaged when the 
body is at rest, to review the past transactions of the heart, 
with all the preciseness and minutiae of prior proceedings.) 
ne dreamed that he was an old and helpless man, an out¬ 
cast of society, cursed by every one. No sympathetic eye 
or voice was to be found; all passed a censure on him. The 
contemptuous looks of the people satisfied him that they 
despised him. He saw a praying, weeping, sorrowful 
mother gazing him in the face, with an expression of pity, 
pointing to him and saying, 1 son ! son ! my only son, thou 
hast brought me to an untimely grave.’ The weight and 
burden of such an announcement, of such a verdict, was too 
piercing, too intense to be longer endured, and he awoke. 
After a serious reflection, he realized that he was still 
young y that it was all a dream; and he resolved from that 
time henceforth to pursue the path of virtue. 

«Has such a voice ever reached your ear, like that of 
this young man ? What a blessed privilege to be yet young, 
to have yet time and opportunity, that the prodigal may 
return, if he follows that small voice, which bids him come 
and receive pardon. Has the adversary over enticed you 


108 


astray ? Has your life been licentious and disorderly ? 
Are you still young? Rejoice if you are, but return from 
the downward road whether you are young or old, without 
a moment’s hesitation. Heath may overtake you, and then 
it is too late. Life is uncertain, precarious, like the flower, 
which to-day is dressed in the gorgeous robe of nature, to¬ 
morrow it is no more, the rough winds of the north robbed 
it of beauty, its life. So man’s life marches steadily on to 
its termination. Ho age or rank of life is exempted from 
its charms, its enchantments, its vices, its lusts, its intem¬ 
perance. The child is charmed with those things which are 
adapted to its nature, which belong to the sphere in which 
it moves. Boyhood and girlhood have their charms, their 
dissipation, their passions. It is then the time when those 
passions and propensities commence to exert themselves 
objectively, and assume different shapes and forms; the 
heart, the mind, is then yet tender and flexible, to be bent 
in every direction. It is then of the utmost importance in 
what society he shall join, what education he shall receive, 
because those influences will make the most deep and per¬ 
manent impression. The whole object of education is to 
discipline the mind, to fortify and establish principles of 
truth; in such a manner the mind becomes strong, capable 
of self-government, with power enough to subdue the vicious 
habits and propensities; so that the mind and the reason, 
and not the physical senses, dictate and command the man 
in his action. Therefore, it is highly desirable that children 
should be thoroughly educated, that they may learn to 
abhor intemperance and licentiousness, and seek enjoy¬ 
ment in the more pure and higher scale of life. 

“But follies and idle indulgences are not confined to 
boyhood. They are found in manhood and old age. We 
see every day in business affairs how they devote all their 
skill and ingenuity, if not to cheat one or the other, yet to 


109 


take advantage of each other in some business, when an 
opportunity presents itself, under the color of decency, be¬ 
cause it is the fashion of the day. But the real motive is 
to do duo homage to covetousness. 

11 Such are the evils of the day, and they ought to be ban¬ 
ished from society. Such manifold species of intemperance 
and defects in morals cast a stigma on society. They should 
not be found, in the nineteenth century, in an enlightened 
nation. Therefore, let each one declare war against intem¬ 
perance, and let no compromise be made until the last foe 
is conquered. Oh what a glorious day it will be when 
those who are unpolluted and of pure morals shall form a 
compact with the religious host, who are traveling heaven¬ 
ward. Disease will cease to be. Life, health, and pros¬ 
perity, love and friendship, will blossom, and the sun, with 
his golden beams, will radiate man’s acts, that he may run 
the race of the righteous. 

“The terrestrial career of both our pilgrims, which we 
have just illustrated, have now reached their place of desti¬ 
nation. The one, whose object it was to indulge in sen¬ 
sual gratification; the other, whoso great object was to 
restrain sensual gratification, but to cultivate the higher 
virtues, temperance, philanthropy, and religion, in order to 
benefit humanity, by words, precepts, and the indefatigable 
exertion of all the powers with which the Creator had en¬ 
dowed him. The name of the first was known in the corn- 
memorandum of posterity as one to be abhorred and 
despised, whoso reputation was tainted with the profligate 
deeds of the actor in his life-time, which consequences were 
still felt in society. And he lives; yes, ho lives, but where 1 
Not under the beams of a life-giving and blissful immor¬ 
tality ? No. But he has to endure the never quenching 
fire of hell. His name is not found ia the book of the 


110 


blessed. He sails with the nocturnal tempest, hurrying on 
to the abyss of despair. 

u But let us return to the second one. What a contrast! 
His name lives in the holy remembrance of posterity; yes, 
vice itself is compelled to do him homage; to pay the 
tribute of reverence to the noble deeds of the actor. His 
acts have contributed to accomplish the great mission, to 
raise man in the scale of intelligence. He soars now on 
high, with eagle wings, and rocks himself in the purest 
atmosphere above mortality, and the sun of heavenly bliss 
illuminates with her golden rays the heavenly host who 
have gone through the fiery ordeal of tribulation, whereby 
their souls have been rectified, purified, and refined, and 
now, in the white robes of saints, the emblem of inno¬ 
cence, they glorify God. 

11 How, my dear hearers, if you have yet some of these 
infirmities, go from hero with a determination to reform. 
Act while it is day. Take an active part in the great 
drama of life, that future generations may bless you, and 
you may enter the glory of Heaven.” 


After I had perused his lecture, my friend continued, as 
follows: 

“ True it was that I had laid the foundation for future 
eminence and success, but there remained a great deal yet 
to be done. The ship had to pass through life’s tumultu¬ 
ous sea; passing by many shallow headlands, sandbars, 
and rocky cliffs, on which many a life’s sail has been 




Ill 


dashed to atoms. So I began my new career, with only a 
fow dimes in my purse, and no client, on the untried sea 
of success j but never discouraged, always in good spirits, 
trusting in Providence, my own abilities, and good luck. 

“ I repaired to a western city to establish myself, after 
having received a good advice in reference to my future 
course from the presiding judge, who accompanied me to 
the depot to bid me farewell. After having arrived at my 
place of destination, I procured an office, sent out my 
cards, and so, was ready and willing to perform business 
for -whosoever might desire my services. But clients there 
were few. They did not seem to know that I wanted busi¬ 
ness, or else they cared nothing about it. The first case I 
tried was in the Criminal Court. I had to defend one of 
the female sex, she being about twenty-two years of age, 
and charged with an enormous crime. After I had con¬ 
sulted with her, I found that she was guilty of the partic¬ 
ular charge alleged in the indictment, and that this would 
be absolutely proved in court. I went home in despair, 
and would willingly have returned the fee which I received 
from a friend of hers (who had me engaged) if I had been 
asked to do so; but I was ashamed to say that I wished 
not to try the case, being fearful that I was not able to 
meet the emergency. So the only way left for me was to 
defend the prisoner. I also knew that my future success 
was greatly dependent on the case at bar. Hesitatingly I 
proceeded to examine the matter, to draw out every point 
I deemed in my favor. This being also the first commis¬ 
sion of crime on her part (as far as known), after I had 
prepared, I became somewhat encouraged. The day for 
the trial came on; the case was called, and I announced 
myself as the counselor for the defendant. On my an¬ 
nouncement, the State’s attorney took a keen survey of 
me, his antagonist in this particular case. After ho had 


112 


satisfied himself that I was a beginner—he seeing that I 
was somewhat bashful—with a sarcastic smile, hinted 
towards me, he announced himself ready. It is unneces¬ 
sary to relate the progress of the trial. Suffice it to say 
that I was the master of the hour; I defeated the self- 
conceited circuit attorney; my eloquence, pointed to the 
issue at bar, had touched the sensibilities of the jury. I 
had psychologized them; and, although my client was 
clearly proven guilty, yet the jury acquitted her—which 
called forth the applause of the bystanders, who, by this 
time, had densely crowded the court room, and met the 
approbation of the presiding justice, who cordially came 
forward from the bench, and shook hands with me, and 
expressed his regard for me to the other members of tho 
bar, who were partially jealous of my success. From this 
day on did my business increase. It is unnecessary to re¬ 
late to you the usual routine of business, which called 
forth nothing of importance worthy of being noticed 
here.” 

Now, my dear reader, I have to beg your pardon for 
having related these facts in the third person, instead of in 
the first person. I done so for the purpose of better secur¬ 
ing your attention, for this is my own (the author’s) his¬ 
tory. I have given you a true sketch of life as it is (and 
as it ought to be). Take the example in whatever sphere 
of life you are, and for whatever vocation you are best 
adapted. Work! for there is no progress without exer¬ 
tion. I shall endeavor to do my part in the great drama 
of life. 

I herewith close by letting you peruse, in the following 
chapter, a lecture which I recently gave, by request, in 
some Eastern city, upon the subject of “ Woman’s Eights.” 


CHAPTER XY. 


WOMEN AND THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. 

Ladies and Gentlemen —In order to discuss the subject 
under consideration, we must first consider what object is 
to be accomplished by the right of suffrage, and, secondly, 
who is competent to exercise it, what ought to bo the con¬ 
dition annexed to it, and what good will be accomplished 
by it. 

In order to solve the first proposition, (namely, the ob¬ 
ject to be accomplished by the right of suffrage,) we must 
go to the fundamental principles, namely, that law and 
government are necessary wherever society is formed, and 
that it has for its object to promote the happiness of man¬ 
kind. If man lived isolated and alone, no social and moral 
law would be necessary; he would be only subject to God's 
and nature’s law. But as soon as man comes in contact 
with his fellow man, as soon as they commence to live side 
by side, when one has to transact business with the other, 
and comes to be dependent on each other, it becomes an 
unavoidable necessity to have law and government—unless 
man were perfect, like the Deity, and not so finite in his 
various faculties and powers, but infinite; as when he 
has taken off this mortal coil and assumed the immortal; 
in such a state of being, where he had reached the highest 
pinnacle of glory; climbed to the uppermost round of the 
ladder of intellectual greatness. But, as long as we have 
not yet arrived there, we are subject to the ruling of gov¬ 
ernment in our temporal affairs. As soon as man multi- 


114 


plies in a particular place, he combines together to form 
communities, to become a territory, a State, or, in its final 
state of existence, a great nation, in order to protect itself 
from outward foes, and from inward conspirators. In a 
word, law and government are necessary to protect the 
weak against the aggressions of the strong, to have the 
violator duly punished for a violation of the law, and to 
have justice duly disseminated among all parties under the 
government. 

We have now arrived at the point where we ask, why 
should we vote ? and what good is accomplished by it ? If 
we look at the European governments we find that they, 
with one exception, are monarchical, wdiere the will of one 
despotic personage sways the weal or woe of the whole 
nation, or, perhaps, a few proud so-called aristocrats; 
the epithet “proud,” forms a remarkable part in their 
career j who indulge themselves in the various vices, 
and impose heavy penalties on their subjects if they, in a 
moment of indiscretion, follow the example of their mas¬ 
ters. They are self-conceited creatures, spoiled by the 
weeds of education, in that they have not come in contact 
with the world, nor commingled with their fellow men, and 
consequently have no practical experience, know nothing 
of the people’s wants, thoroughly governed by selfish prin¬ 
ciples, and look only to their own welfare and aggrandize¬ 
ment ; they have no sympathetic heart to feel for the 
people; they only seek to enlighten their own minds, and, 
after they have acquired it, instead of using their knowl¬ 
edge to promote God’s and man’s glory, they blaspheme 
God with their perverted minds, retard the welfare and 
the progress of acquiring knowledge of their subjects, 
and ruin their happiness; instead of standing on the 
watch-tower, to elevate the hearts and minds of their 
subjects, they endeavor to keep it as dark as midnight in 


115 


the public heart. Such is the condition of a monarchical 
government. 

Those who have endeavored to form governments on a 
republican platform have conceived the grand idea “that 
all men become tyrants ” if they continue in office, and 
have the sway of power. This is quite natural here, in a 
probationary state, where his mental and physical powers 
are imperfect, influenced by surrounding circumstances, 
and so constituted that by a continual exercise of power, 
he becomes tyrannical. Therefore our forefathers pro¬ 
posed that the legislative, judicial, and executive officers 
ought to be elected, and that they should only hold office for 
a certain number of years, and that henceforth such offices 
should not be hereditary. 

This was a divine conception. Mankind, and more par¬ 
ticularly our nation, made an upward bound in the scale of 
civilization, which else would not have been accomplished 
in ages to come. It opened the door of the heart of man, 
and celestial light streamed in. It annihilated, with the 
quickness of the lightning-flash, and with the power of the 
thunder crash, old monarchical systems, and out of it sprung 
the young and tonder blossom of a future great republic. 
See how it has opened the avenues to all men to become 
something worthy of a man. The car of progress began 
to roll on ; it kindled the fire of a worthy ambition in man; 
it awakened the dormant power of man, which hitherto 
had been sleeping in his breast; it was, and is, to-day, a 
stimulant to action, and it is only by learning, studying, 
and application, that man can progress. The stirring in 
the breast to action makes man come in contact with men; 
makes him acquainted with their wants and welfare; only 
by this he learns what relation he sustains to God, to nature, 
and to his fellow-men. 

The representatives which have been elected by the peo- 


116 


pie sprang out of their midst, and are acquainted with the 
wants and objects which they shall represent, in either of 
the capacities of enacting, deciding, or executing the people's 
will, for which they have put them in office, as their repre¬ 
sentatives, to guard their welfare, and to see that justice is 
done to all parties. But it is not only the knowledge they 
have of the people's wants, because originating from them, 
that they therefore will endeavor wisely to govern; but 
they have also another motive for so doing, namely, the 
shortness of their official sway. Their entire dependence 
on the people's will makes them endeavor to do what is 
right. They know, if they wrong the public, that then they 
also will meet with public contempt, punishment, and eject¬ 
ment from their official position. All of which is a pow¬ 
erful stimulus to promote the right and suppress the wrong. 
This is, then, the end to be accomplished, which republican 
institutions confer on their denizens, and which prerogatives 
are entirely absent in monarchical forms of government. 
Thus far I have discussed the purposes for which we should 
exercise the elective franchise. 

Let us now proceed to the question, "Who is competent 
to exercise it, and how should we exercise it? You ask 
me, with astonishment, competent to vote ? why ask such 
a question ? Of course, you reply, with the air of a philos¬ 
opher, man has that right only; and, after a few moments 
of reflection, you nod complacently with your head, and in 
a dignified manner and peculiar accent, you say, the (white) 
man has such privileges only; he is the lord of creation— 
and I think I hear you laying particular stress on the word 
white. That women or negroes should also exercise the 
right of suffrage, has never been dreamed of. But let us 
look the question in the face, to find out what are the 
marked characteristics of competency, and superiority in 
the white man, and what are the horrible impediments 


117 


which bar tho right of suffrage in women or negroes. To 
find out the quality of the white man which makes him su¬ 
perior to all his surroundings, we must watch his actions, 
and particularly how he exercises the franchise in this land 
of ours, and at this time. It must appear evident to the 
public mind—even the casual observer cannot have failed 
to see with what baseness, and under what bewildering cir¬ 
cumstances, it is carried on, the many intrigues used, and 
the many deceptions played by diabolical politicians, and the 
many fatal results in consequence of it, which every one 
who has common sense and a little knowledge of public 
affairs cannot have failed to observe, and under which the 
public had, and has, at present to suffer. 

There are many means which tend directly or indirectly 
to corrupt tho divine right of suffrage. The drunkard, 
the ignoramus, and the acute villain, according to the the¬ 
ory hitherto sustained by the public and its representatives 
in office, have the right to vote, providing they are white 
men. Indeed ! Are they all competent? Let us see : can 
the man who has stupified his senses, whose mind has be¬ 
come as dark as midnight, whose moral nature has lost its 
high tone of honor, and descended to degradation and 
baseness, be considered competent to exercise the elective 
franchise ?—for it cannot very well be successfully disputed 
that such are the unavoidable consequences of a life of in¬ 
toxication. It is so confirmed by all philosophers and med¬ 
ical men of any standing at all. It is a truth apparent on 
its face, that the use of narcotic drinks attacks the fibers 
of the physical constitution as soon as it comes in contact 
with them, and coats its parts with a corrosive sublimate^ 
and gnaws like a worm at the very vital tissues of man’s 
life. It is also acknowledged on every hand, by those who 
have any claim at all on knowledge, how the mind oper^ 
ates, how human nature is bent; they will affirm my state- 


118 


ment, namely: that the brain and body are simply the 
mediums through which the mind operates, simply the vis¬ 
ible executive functions of the mind, and the further axiom, 
that in order to produce healthy actions of the mind, there 
must be a healthy body; that is to say, that there cannot 
be a harmonious action of the various faculties of the mind 
if the medium through which they act is in a state of dis¬ 
ease or decay. Such is 'the the condition in which we find 
the great mass of the so self-styled white men. “ Indeed, a 
proper specimen for the elective franchise.” But he is a 
white man, and by common consent he has the right to 
vote, of course. 

Next comes the idiot, he upon whom blessed Nature 
has neglected to shed the light of reason in his dark and 
benumbed mind, to illuminate the dark and dismal cham¬ 
bers of his heart; or the ignoramus. Although he had 
received a talent from his Maker, yet it remained in the 
obscure back-ground, in consequence of poverty, or other 
disparaging circumstances which detained him from the 
opportunity to develop himself, and which had retarded the 
development of his mind—and let me remind you there are 
thousands of such characters, and they are the too willing 
instruments of others. They are like a machine, which 
acts out only the design of its operator. They are the blind 
instruments of intrigue. 

Next come the base, who were evidently born with a 
treacherous heart and mischievous mind, so that they can 
not help acting with mischief; they cannot act otherwise. 
They are naturally so framed and constituted that their 
whole body declares that they are poor miserable creatures, 
who simply carry out the behest of their corrupted nature. 

But there are also many who originally possessed a 
bright intellect and good heart, but have, in the course of 
time, become depraved and corrupted in consequence of the 


119 


continual association of contaminating influences, being 
placed under bad and immoral surroundings; and, by and 
by, they become the unfortunate victims of the vices, and 
the divine light within is extinguished. For, it cannot be 
controverted that the mind of man, that he himself, does 
always imitate the acts of others; that the continual acts 
of other men who are around him, whose character and 
dealings he observes and finally adopts, which acts leave 
an impress on his mind, and, in the course of time, he hab¬ 
ituates himself to their actions, and thinks all perfectly 
right, although the acts, as a matter of fact, are base in 
themselves. But the fact is, he has adopted their evil acts, 
and has become their slave. 

Such are the majority of the so-called competent white 
men who exercise the elective franchise. Headed by 
a partisan political demagogue, who seeks his own ag¬ 
grandizement, his pecuniary benefit, who wishes to rob the 
public purse, they march on to the polls to vote; or, per¬ 
haps, in some back-ground, the politician is preparing 
them. He uses honied words to win them for himself or 
for his briber. See how he fires them on, how he kindles 
the passion and prejudices of his victims ! See how ho 
weeps with his eyes, and sheds tears with his heart! and, if 
all this will not help enough, he spends some money, pays 
the whisky bill and for the lager beer; and, sure enough, 
this secures his object in view. 

He is carried along with the throng of the multitude, 
who, under the blessed influence of whisky and et ceteras, 
cry, in a jovial mood (like the Israelites of old who cried 
to our Savior), Hosanna on high! blessed is he who rides 
before us ! And he, the devouring wolf in sheep’s clothing, 
takes vantage of the illusive moment, and says amen there¬ 
unto. 

Ladies and gentlemen, you have watched public pro- 


120 


ceodings, and you must acknowledge that the facts devel¬ 
oped bear out my statement. Why, has it not been too 
palpably demonstrated to you of late, by a political dema¬ 
gogue, who would be a second Moses to you to lead you 
through the wilderness, but who will ignominiously sink in 
the dismal pit of oblivion, and only be remembered by the 
coming generation to be abhorred ? 

I have now, as far as I have been able, set forth some of 
the characteristics of the competency of the white man in 
reference to voting and the bleeding wounds caused to the 
public heart in consequence of his incompetency. Let mo 
now call your attention to the second subject under dis¬ 
cussion—the everlasting negro. He is despised every¬ 
where ; a load of insults heaped on him, that ho must sink 
under its load. The privilege of voting has been hitherto 
denied him, because they say he is incompetent. Grant it 
to be true that the majority of Ethiopian descendants are 
at present incapable of exercising the right of suffrage, yet 
I know also many of the white race who are incapable of 
doing so. But, is it not the spirit and intent of a republi¬ 
can form of government to give an assisting hand to the 
poor and the down-trodden, to elevate them, to raise the 
spirit out of darkness, to develop the mind, in order that 
they may in future be competent? That is what I under¬ 
stand by a republican form of government. Yet I know, 
also, a few negroes who are competent; who show by their 
acts an intellectual brightness, and a feeling heart to sym¬ 
pathise with their fellow men; and rather would I trust to 
them my private and public affairs, being sure that they 
would represent me in word and deed—I say, rather would 
I trust to such a one than to the rascality of a base poli¬ 
tician. 

We have now arrived at the question of woman’s right 
to suffrage—the very ones whom we respect and love so 


121 




sincerely, at least you pretend to do so. But your love and 
esteem seems not to be of the right character, not pure, but 
commingled with poisonous matter. You place the very 
object of your esteem on the same platform with the (in your 
own conceit) so despicable negro. You say she is fit for 
nothing more than domestic and culinary affairs, and to be 
your companion in a frantic moment of passion, when you 
feel attracted to her. In sum and substance, you imagine 
her to be your slave ; deny her the right of personality ; 
acknowledge her not as a whole unit in the chain which 
forms the great universe, and all this because you find her 
muscular power not so well developed as in you. But is 
that a reason why she should be subjugated, her identity 
lost ? Is she not composed of the same matter as you, and 
in exactly the same proportion of chemical constituents as 
that of which you are composed ? Has she not the physical 
frame as perfectly developed ? Is it not a well known fact 
that a member of your body will become strong in propor¬ 
tion as you exercise it ? Look at the blacksmith, the prize 
fighter; see what muscular strength they have developed 
in their arm, with which they challenge and defy the world. 
Look at the peasant and his wife; does he not look more 
robust than the city dandy ? Ah ! you will find muscular 
strength developed in the woman from the rural district. 
Place her at the side of her ladyship of the city, and you 
will see a striking difference ; the former, with the rounded 
rosy cheek, in which life and health is displayed, and the 
latter, with the haggard countenance, bearing the impress 
of an early grave with her. Ah! if the latter was but 
placed under the same circumstances, and had the same 
amount of exercise, would she not, also, become more ro¬ 
bust and powerful? You see, then, that it is only the har¬ 
monious exercise of body and the mental faculties which 
makes a man or woman perfect, as far as we are able to 




\ 


6 


122 


reach perfection in this sphere of ours, and under our sur¬ 
rounding circumstances. 

But there is a still greater insult heaped on her. That 
is, that they say she is mentally incapable; that her rea¬ 
soning powers are deficient j that she cannot comprehend 
the great affairs of state. This is a grand mistake, which, 
when asserted by an ignoramus, wakens the feelings of the 
philanthropist, who cries, u O, shame ! where is thy blush ?” 
Woman’s mental incapacity can only be asserted by the 
idiot or nonsensical. I venture to say that woman has 
equal mental powers in common with man j and that, in 
many cases, she is his superior, not inferior , in mental cali¬ 
ber. Let us see how mentality is promoted. Is it not a 
fact that it can only be developed by a sober, judicious life; 
by studying man’s and nature’s works, and therein God, 
the divine, manifesting himself in every atom of matter ; 
and by abstaining from the pollution of the soul, from 
drunkenness, and all other vices. Ah ! with one accord, 
we must say that these are the only means to reach the 
higher sphere of spiritual and intellectual light. 

As a general rule, woman does not indulge in the various 
vices in which man indulges, and which corrupt his mind. 
Her mind is, comparatively, more pure and serene, and 
therefore she has greater judgment. She does not feel so 
prejudiced, partial, or self-interested, as men do. Her 
heart is more liberal, and she, in consequence, can see with 
a prophetic eye, a greater distance into the future. She 
would use prudence in electing a proper representative, 
who would really represent the people’s welfare. Look at 
the woman’s face and head, and if phrenology and physi¬ 
ognomy be true, (which I think cannot be gainsayed, 
because based on universal observation,) then the facts 
bear out my statements. It is true that man has generally 
a larger head than woman, but that does not demonstrate 


123 


« 

that he therefore must be necessarily greater in mind. 
Man, perhaps, has a greater intellect than woman, but he 
has also a greater amount of animal passion, and the ac¬ 
tions of men are determined by the predominating passion 
or faculty which in each separate individual exist, one 
overbalancing the other, and it happens in the majority of 
cases that the animal passion in man predominates over 
the mind, and frequently runs astray with the man, the in¬ 
tellectual giant, and, with all his good purposes and inten¬ 
tions, he becomes the blind, passionate bigot of impulse and 
depraved and unbridled passion. Oh, how often, in such 
moments, has your wife, mother or sister, stepped, as your 
guardian angel, to your side, soothed your passion, and 
given you calm, deliberate, and wise counsel, which has 
saved you from many an hour of misery. Although she 
has not the same amount of brain as you, yet her cerebrum 
and physiognomy is more neatly made up; there is no 
superfluous matter, but all is in exact proportion. Her 
leading trait is sympathy. Her mentality is generally pre¬ 
dominant over her animal passion, which by a glance at 
her you will observe, without spoiling her toilet, that is if 
you are an expert. All of which must be conclusive proof of 
a fair, reasonable mind, that, if she has no superior quali¬ 
ties, she has at least an equal capacity with man to exercise 
the elective franchise. 

The conditions under which citizens should be allowed 
to vote should be very few. The only ones of which we 
should take cognizance as a bar to voting are the follow¬ 
ing : First, disloyalty ; second, ignorance—after the State 
had given full opportunity to its citizens to learn, and that 
the poor had ample access (without money) to publio 
institutions of instruction. And such bar to vote should 
only last till the particular individual had acquired at least 
sufficient knowledge to read and write the English lan- 


124 


r 


guage. If a person has a sound mind, and does not acquire 
that much knowledge, after it has been afforded to him 
without price, he is not worthy of living in a great repub¬ 
lic or of the name of a freeman, and hence unfit for the 
right of suffrage. The third and last condition annexed to 
voting, as a bar to it, is, that during the immoral behavior 
and other violation of God’s and man’s law, he shall have 
no right to vote until he reforms. 

Thus far, I have endeavored to delineate some of the 
characteristics of the parties who vote. But you say, if 
we grant what you say is true, would it be expedient, at 
this time, to unloose the shackles with which we have tied 
for centuries back the weaker part of mankind ? We fear 
we are treading on a dangerous precipice. True it is, the 
only reason we had for so doing was because we possessed 
more physical strength. May I ask, is it at any moment 
too untimely to reform, to correct an error, to erase an 
evil which has for ages existed ? The doctrine of the 
Bible is that we may and should do good, even on Sunday, 
yea, even when the eleventh hour has already arrived. 
But you may say, I am afraid if that wife of mine gets the 
reins of government, I will be the worst off. Perhaps, 
(cowardly man,) thou has deserved some chastisement for 
long-continued outrages committed on her, which have not 
yet been redressed, because her voice has not been given a 
fair hearing. 

But, you say, there will arise an estrangement of the af¬ 
fections between the sexes. The flow of affection will be 
hindered, since she becomes independent of man; the 
world will be depopulated. Let me tell you, there will be 
no danger of that; there exists an instinctive desire in the 
breast of both sexes to perpetuate their species. Ah! there 
will be thousands of fallen women restored to honor; thous¬ 
ands will be prevented from falling, because the just right 


126 


to vote carries with it all the other privileges. Thence¬ 
forth the labor of woman will be compensated according to 
its merit, and not like it now is, where they only receive 
half of that which a man would receive for an equal amount 
of labor. The doors of every vocation will be opened to 
her, and be sure she has energy enough to enter on a field ' 
of usefulness. How many thousands of women are now 
treading the paths of infamy, not because they went there 
willingly! Hay; they had been compelled to do so. They 
had been without money, without a friend—a helpless wo¬ 
man. The doors of the many vocations were shut to her; 
she had no other means than that; she must do it, or else 
perish. But O, what other aspects will things assume, if 
all resources are opened to her, where she can compete 
with her male companion. Ah ! she will abhor the ways of 
infamy, and, in many fields of industry, she will outvie her 
male competitors. It is not necessary that she should use 
the plane of the carpenter, the sledge of the blacksmith, or 
the handle of the plow. Her male companions are more 
fit for that. But there are thousands of other avocations 
which have hitherto been filled by men only, and which she 
may perform equally as well as men, if she chooses to do 
so. Can she not use her organ of speech as well as men; 
has she not a more pure mind than he; is she not more 
fit to make law than he is; can she not learn to use the 
surgeon's knife, or distribute, as a physician, healing balm 
among the sick, or become the traveling agent for a mer¬ 
cantile house, or sell the merchandise at the store, or write 
accounts, or use the pen and pencil in their manifold capa¬ 
cities ? Tell me what obstacle is in the way to prevent her 
from so doing, in order that she may lead an honorable 
life. If she is not poor, but if her lot has fallen among the 
wealthy, then she may do whatever she likes. But I speak 
now of the poor, who hitherto have been haunted by mis- 


126 


ery. I see no obstacle in the way, and neither can any 
other reasonable individual, if labor is judiciously dissem. 
mated among all classes and sexes. There will arise a 
more congenial affection between sister and brother, wife 
and husband, beau and belle. There will be no constraint, 
because each is independent of the other. The affection 
will be more pure, because woman then has the means of 
supporting herself, and she need not, and will no more, 
marry a man because he is rich; which, otherwise, she 
is bound to do, because no other recourse was left her, 
although she had no genial affection for him. Thousands 
of miseries in families will be avoided, which are now 
prevailing in their circles. 

Woman, being independent, will only choose for her life 
companion the one to whom her true affections flow, and 
whose heart responds to the electric thrill of hers. Let 
your wife, or sister, or sweetheart, accompany you to the 
ballot-box; she will judiciously direct you to vote with her 
for the right person in the right place. The usual rough 
behavior of men on such occasions, and all angry feelings, 
will subside to a more calm, polite, and courteous be¬ 
havior in her presence, when she, leaning on your arm, 
will deposit her ballot. 

Open, then, wide, the gate of reform; let the car of . 
progress roll on in conformity with the spirit of liberty; 
throw wide open the prison’s bars; let the prince of de¬ 
mons and ignorance depart. Sweep clean the prison cell, 
and make it a fit habitation for the divine. Make all the 
avenues wide, and henceforth let no one (without demerit) 
on account of race, color, or sex, be debarred from the 
right of suffrage. Then, indeed, will you have advanced 
towards divinity, and, in truth, you may well say, “.Nearer, 
my God, to thee.” Then you will be a great republic, de 
facto and dejure. 


I 






CONTENTS. 


Chapter. Page. 

Poem, entitled “ Life’s Athletic Wrestling.” 1 

I. Life’s Aspect. 9 

II. Happiness. Life’s Aim. 15 

III. Curiosity. 20 

IV. Religion. 24 

V. Spiritualism. 29 

VI. Phrenology. 33 

VII. Marriagk Relations—Selection of Life Partner. 41 

VIII. Education of Children. '49 

IX. Progress our Motto. 59 

X. Ethiopians. 64 

XI. Characteristics of Races and Nations. 69 

XII. In what consists Good Government ?. 75 

XIII. Obedience to Nature’s Laws makes Heaven on 

Earth . 80 

XIV. Progress Personified with Romantic Sketches. 80 

XV. Woman and the Elective Franchise. 113 














































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